/&%, 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



BY 

ELLA RODMAN, CHURCH, 

Author of " Birds and their Ways," " Flyers and Crawlers,' 
"Flower-Talks at Elmridge," etc. 





PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 

AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK, 

1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 



\^ 






COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 








Westcott & Thomson, 
Siereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada. 



\J 



PREFACE. 



The "Elmridge Series ,, of books is 
pioving very popular. Young people are 
learning many interesting facts about the 
creatures God has made. The books 
make no pretensions to exhaustiveness as 
scientific treatises or manuals, but aim 
only to give such information as all in- 
telligent young persons should have con- 
cerning the various objects considered, and 
to give it in a pleasant way that makes the 
task of reading an easy one. 

The present volume treats thus conver- 
sationally of " some useful animals." The 



6 PREFACE. 

children and young folks in many other 
homes have thus the privilege of enjoying 
in these bright pages what the little people 
of the Kyle home first enjoyed with their 
delightful young governess. 

J. R. M. 

Philadelphia, 1888. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

Long-Eared Friends u 



CHAPTER II. 
Better Acquaintance 41 

CHAPTER III. 
In the Family , 55 

CHAPTER IV. 
With a Hump 80 

CHAPTER V. 
What the Bible Says 101 

CHAPTER VI. 
More About Camels 122 

CHAPTER VII. 
To the North Pole 138 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Reindeer Ways 159 

CHAPTER IX. 
American Cousins 190 

CHAPTER X. 
A Queer Specimen 207 

i 

CHAPTER XL 
The Wapiti, or Elk 226 

CHAPTER XII. 
Handsome Relations 239 « 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Dear Little Deer 253 

CHAPTER XIV. 
A Large Acquaintance 277 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Elephant at Home 296 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Hard Work . . 325 

I 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Public Characters 350 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGB 

An Eastern Caravan Frontispiece. 

The Donkey 14 

A New Gatekeeper 17 

The Swelled Limb 25 

The Happy Birds 29 

The Young Vegetable- Seller 33 

Kind Treatment 35 

Tail-Piece 40 

The Entry in Jerusalem 47 

Eastern Asses 48 

Heavily Laden 59 

Tail-Piece 79 

Loaded Camels 81 

The Camel 86 

Taking a Rest 91 

Camel in the Desert 95 

Camels and Tent 107 

A Novel Ride 123 

Reindeer 139 

Laplanders 149 

9 



IO ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Laplander and his Family 155 

A Queer Cradle 160 

Moose 211 

Hunting the Moose 219 

Tail-Piece 225 

Stag Chased by Wolves 245 

Roebuck 255 

Hart 257 

Dear Little Deer 261 

Elephant-Riding ( . . 280 

Capturing an Elephant 305 

Taming Elephants 310 

Elephant Running Down Hill 313 

Elephant Eating Sugar . , 317 

Royal Elephant with Trappings ... 336 

Siamese Worshiping the White Elephant ..... 347 
Regulating the Elephant 356 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS, 



CHAPTER I. 

LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 

IT was a rainy day at Elmridge, and the 
children were deeply interested in some 
new books which Miss Harson had wisely 
kept for just such an occasion as this. There 
were plenty of pictures, and every little 
while there would be an exclamation of 
delight from one or other of the readers, 
with an appeal to their governess as to the 
exact meaning of certain things. 

Miss Harson had a book too, and was 
supposed to be reading ; but she presently 
decided that it would be as well to lay aside 
her own volume and devote herself to her 
pupils. 

"I do like pictures of donkeys," Edith 

a 



12 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

was saying ; " they look so nice and patient. 
And I wish—" 

"That you were a donkey yourself ?" 
asked Malcolm, mischievously. 

"No/' replied his little sister, feeling 
rather hurt at the question; "you know I 
did not mean that. But I almost wish I was 
a little English girl, because then I would 
have a donkey to ride on." 

" Then you wouldn't have Miss Harson," 
said Clara, very soberly, "and you wouldn't 
have me, and — and all of us." 

" Oh, I don't want to, really," exclaimed 
Edith, in great anxiety lest they should all 
have thought her in earnest; "I wouldn't 
go away from Elmridge for the world. But 
it's nice to have a donkey to ride on ; it 
looks like a queer little horse. — Doesn't 
it, Miss Harson?" 

"And a queer little horse you'd find it, 
dear," was the laughing reply, "although it 
seems so attractive in this pretty English 
story. It is a species of horse, though, 
and I think we might all enjoy finding out 
something about it. Are you ready for 
more animals?" 



LONG-EARED FRIEXDS. I 3 

The little Kyles were always ready for 
Miss Harson's delightful " talks," and, hav- 
ing spent more than an hour over their 
books, they had become pretty well ac- 
quainted with their contents; so there was 
a general drawing up around the young 
lady with an evident expectation of good 
things to come. 

" Isn't the donkey some relation to the 
horse?" asked Malcolm. 

" He is a first cousin," was the reply, 
11 but these relatives do not agree very 
well. The horse looks down upon the 
humbler donkey, or ass, who is certainly 
not handsome with his big head and ears 
and his small, insignificant body. His tail, 
too, is very different from that of the horse, 
as in the latter animal it is a very graceful 
appendage — a sweeping plume of hair ; but 
the donkey's tail has very little hair, and 
that only at the end. Instead of having 
the horse's long, flowing mane, which hangs 
down on one side of its neck, the poor don- 
key shows only a ridge of short, stubby 
hair: , 

Yes, they could see it all in the picture, 



14 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and it was not much to be wondered at that 
the horse should not care to claim such a 
shabby-looking relative. 

" He isn't very pretty, I suppose," said 
Edith, "but he looks good." 

" Perhaps, dear, you will not think him 




THE DONKEY. 



1 good ' when you hear that he bites and 
kicks when angry, and is considered a stub- 
born creature." 

This was certainly not after the Elmridge 
standard of goodness, and the little girl 
looked quite disappointed at the bad char- 
acter of the donkey. 

"It is scarcely fair," continued her gover- 
ness, "to tell you such things without also 
mentioning the good traits which the animal 



LONG-EARED FRIENDS. I 5 

possesses. It is said of him that, ' though his 
nature is stubborn, he has many good quali- 
ties. He is gentle and patient; he is fond 
of his master when his master is kind to 
him ; I think he seems much cleaner than 
most animals, for he will not drink water if 
it is dirty, and, however much he is neg- 
lected, he never has vermin ; he hates 
wetting his feet, and even when loaded 
will go round to get away from the. dirty 
parts of the road.' " 

"But, Miss Harson," said Malcolm, " isn't 
the donkey very stupid ?" 

11 Not always, although the expression 
'a perfect donkey' is sometimes applied to 
a silly person. The animal is said to be 
really more intelligent than the horse, and 
an English farmer who had several horses 
and one donkey said that whenever these 
animals played him an ingenious trick the 
donkey was sure to be the ringleader. 
This was shown very plainly once, when the 
farmer fastened up several of his horses 
with the donkey in a large field next to 
one in which there was a fine crop of oats 
nearly ripe. The farmer found to his sur- 



1 6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

prise that the prisoners had contrived to get 
among the oats, of which they ate a large 
quantity and trampled much more, but how 
they managed it he could not see. Keep- 
ing watch early one morning, he was re- 
warded by the unexpected sight of the 
donkey deliberately undoing the fasten- 
ings of the gate with his teeth, as though 
he had always been accustomed to do it, 
and letting his companions out to break- 
fast on oats." 

"I'm sure that wasn't stupid/' said Clara. 

" No, indeed ! And some of these much- 
abused animals, it seems, have even been 
taught to perform tricks in public. Fancy 
such a great creature, for instance, drinking 
out of a glass !" 

The children could not imagine how a 
donkey could possibly drink out of any- 
thing so small ; but when Miss Harson read 
them the following account out of a queer 
old book, they were still more surprised: 

"' There was a cunning player in Africa, 
in a city called Alcair, who taught an asse 
divers strange tricks or feats, for in a pub- 
lick spectacle, turning to his asse (being on 




A NEW GATEKEEPER. 



1 8 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

a scaffold to shew sport), said, "The great 
sultan proposeth to build him an house, and 
shall need all the asses of Alcair to fetch 
and carry wood, stones, lime, and other 
necessaries for that business. ,, Presently, 
the asse falleth down, turneth up his heels 
in the air, groaneth and shutteth his eyes 
fast, as if he had been dead. While he lay 
thus the player desired the beholders to 
consider his estate, for his asse was dead. 
He was a poor man, and therefore moved 
them to give him money to buy another asse. 
" \ In the mean time, having gotten as much 
money as he could, he told the people that 
he was not dead, but, knowing his masters 
poverty, counterfeited in that manner, where- 
by he might get money to buy him proven- 
der; and, therefore he turned again to his 
asse and bid him arise, but he stirred not at 
all. Then did he strike and beat him sore 
(as it seemed) to make him arise, but all in 
vain : the asse laid still. Then said the 
player again, " Our sultan hath commanded 
that to-morrow there be a great triumph 
without the city, and that all the noble 
women shall ride thither upon the fairest 



LONG-EARED FRIEXDS. 1 9 

asses, and this night they must be fed with 
oates, and have the best water of Nilus to 
drink." At the hearing whereof, up started 
the asse, snorting and leaping for joy.' 

" What do you think of that «*" asked their 
governess. 

The audience were quite wild to see such 
a wonderful ass, but Miss Harson told them 
laughingly that she had not the least idea 
where they would go to find one. 

"We must not call the animal stupid, I 
think," she continued, "as he is only so 
under bad treatment. One of our favorite 
naturalists says, 'Let any one turn an old 
ass into a field and try to mount and ride 
him, and after an hour or so the ass will not 
appear a very stupid animal. It is on such 
an occasion as this that kicking and biting 
are indulged in, while the animal jumps 
about in all directions to prevent his being 
mounted. Should an adventurous rider 
succeed in gretting" on his back, Master 
Donkey stands perfectly still, or else he 
wriggles and shakes his burden off upon 
the ground, and then runs away. If this 
cannot be accomplished and man or boy 



20 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

persists in sticking, the animal will lie down 
and roll over. Another pleasant habit with 
an unwelcome burden is to grind his leg 
against a wall or the rough stem of a tree, 
also to walk into a pool and lie down 
there/ " 

" Then what does the man or boy do ?" 
asked Clara, eagerly. 

" Gets out the best way he can, I should 
think," was the reply, "and with a better 
opinion of the intelligence of donkeys than 
he had before. A story is told of a donkey 
at Carisbrooke Castle, in the Isle of Wight, 
who used to draw water by a large wheel 
from a deep well. When his owner would 
say, ' Tom, my boy, I want water ; get into 
the wheel, my good lad !' the animal imme- 
diately obeyed, and seemed to know just 
how many times the wheel should turn upon 
its axis to bring the bucket up, for every 
time it reached the top of the well he 
stopped. He would then turn his head 
round to see when his master laid hold 
of the bucket to draw it toward him, as he 
had then either to go back or to come for- 
ward a little. He never made a mistake." 



LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 21 

Of course this was "a dear old donkey," 
and there was a general feeling among the 
little Kyles that such an animal would be 
just about the nicest and most useful pet 
that could be found. 

" But we haven't got any wheel to turn," 
suggested Malcolm. 

"Never mind," replied his sisters; " he 
could do something else, then." 

" But not all donkeys are so capable," 
said Miss Harson : " many of them are 
both stupid and obstinate ; and if you 
really owned one, you would probably get 
out of patience with him every hour in the 
day. Only those who can properly govern 
themselves are fit to train animals, and 
harsh treatment makes a donkey especially 
vicious. It is said, when young, to be 
sprightly, and even pretty, but it soon gets 
slow and stupid. Yet it seems to like its 
owner when not cruel, as is too often the 
case ; it can scent him at a distance, tell him 
at once from others, and seems to know just 
where he has passed and the places at which 
he stops. ' When overloaded, it manifests 
its sense of injury by hanging down its 



22 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

head and flapping its ears ; and when hard 
pressed, it opens its mouth and draws back 
its lips with a ghastly grin. If blinded, it 
will remain motionless, however easy it 
might be to remove the impediments that 
hinder its sight. It walks, trots and gallops 
like a horse, but, though it sets out freely, 
it is soon tired, and requires to be managed 
with some address to make it proceed. '" 

" Don't donkeys often draw carts ?" asked 
Malcolm. " In one of my books is a funny 
picture of one with a little dog on his back. 
Here it is. The cart seems to be full of 
vegetables and things, and the picture is 
called ' Costermonger's Donkey and Dog/ " 

"What a queer word!" exclaimed Clara 
as she repeated " costermonger." " What 
does it mean, Miss Harson ?" 

"Very much what 'huckster' does with 
us," replied the young lady. — "And the 
* things/ Malcolm, of which you spoke, ap- 
pear to be fruit of various kinds. I think I 
can distinguish apples, plums, and goose- 
berries probably, for these berries are 
quite plentiful in England, and this is an 
English picture/' 



LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 23 

" But what is the dog doing on his back?" 
asked Edith. " How cunning- he looks 
there ! And the donkey seems to be turn- 
ing around to speak to him/' 

" Here is the little story, dear/' said Miss 
Harson : " 'A costermono-er who was kind- 

o 

hearted to both his donkey and his dog had 
trained them so well that whenever he had 
to leave his cart and carry his vegetables 
inside a house the dog instantly mounted 
guard by jumping on Jack's back. The 
donkey never offered to stir until his mas- 
ter appeared ; but when he came in sight, 
the dog jumped down, and the donkey 
started for the next customer's house/ " 

This was quite as delightful as the wheel- 
story, and the children were beginning to 
feel quite well acquainted with donkeys. 

"This animal/' continued their governess, 
" has been called in England ' the poor man's 
horse ' because it costs so little to feed or 
shelter him, and he can be made useful in 
many ways. Carrying vegetables to market 
is his common occupation, and a bunch of 
thistles or a few handfuls of grass will satisfy 
his hunger. A little kind treatment goes a 



24 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

great way with him, and he knows when he 
is being sympathized with as well as any of 
us. Here are some verses which describe 
a donkey with a kind-hearted young master: 

"'OLD JACK THE DONKEY. 

" * Old Jack was as sleek and well-looking aji ass 
As ever on common munched thistle or grass, 
And, though 'twas not gaudy, that jacket of brown 
Was the pet of the young and the pride of the town. 

" * And, indeed, he might well look so comely and trim, 
When his young Master Joe was so gentle to him ; 
For never did child more affection* beget 
Than was felt by young Joe for his four-footed pet. 

" ' J oe groomed him and fed him, and each market-day 
W r ould talk to his darling the whole of the way, 
And Jack before dawn would be pushing the door, 
As though he would say, " Up, Joe ! slumber no more." 

" * One day Jack was wandering along the roadside, 
When an urchin the donkey maliciously eyed, 
And, aiming too surely at Jack a sharp stone, 
It struck the poor beast just below the shin-bone. 

" * Joe soothed and caressed him and coaxed him, until 
They came to a stream by the side of a hill, 
And with the cool water he washed the swelled limb, 
And after this fashion kept talking to him : 

u i a Poor Jack ! did he pelt him, the coward so sly ? 
I wish /'d been there with my stick standing by ! 
It does not bleed now; 'twill be well in a trice. 
There ! let me just wash it. Now isn't it nice? ,, 






LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 



25 




THE SWELLED LIMB. 



" ■ And Jack nestled down with his soft velvet nose, 
As soon as he could, under Joe's ragged clothes, 
And he looked at his master as though he would say, 
" I'm sure I can never your kindness repay." ' " 

These verses were much liked, but little 
Edith appeared to think that she would 
scarcely like to have a donkey as close to 



26 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

her as if it were a dog ; she was afraid it 
might kick. 

"It only kicks,." was the reply, "when it 
does not want people to catch it or to get 
on its back ; but it is said to be very affec- 
tionate and easily managed by kindness. 
It is nearly always a hard-worked animal, 
and seems to get little time for eating or 
sleeping. In some parts of Ireland these 
little drudges are made to draw carts from 
mines and back again. When the load is 
emptied, the driver just starts the cart in 
the right direction, and then lies down and 
goes comfortably to sleep, leaving the wise 
donkey to find his way back by his own 
sagacity. Here is a little story of some 
children who made good use of a donkey 
and a donkey- cart." 

The story was called 

THE HAPPY BIRDS. 

The Bird children were a happy little 
flock. They lived in a little house with 
only four rooms in it, but it was warm and 
neat, and bright with father- and mother- 
love, which is always like sunshine in a 



LONG-EARED .FRIENDS. 2J 

home. Father and Mother Bird had to 
work hard, it is true, but they loved to 
work, and the children loved to help. Rich- 
ard, the eldest, was able to help a good deal, 
and the next boy, Christopher, could help a 
little ; and, as for Margie, I do not know how 
mother could have got along without her ; 
and dear little Rosie — why, she was as im- 
portant as any of them: they could not get 
along, of course, without her, for babies 
help — do you not know they do ? — in a 
home. 

These children did not often have a ride: 
Donkey Bray was almost always in use for 
some work about the farm. I do not know 
but he had to work harder than any of the 
rest, yet he was well fed and loved ; and 
when he would not go, they did not whip 
him. No, no, no ! They gave him some 
oats and coaxed him to £0, and after a little 
he would begin again quite bravely. Mr. 
Bird did not believe in whipping child or 
beast ; he had a way of loving them into 
doing what he wanted. 

This afternoon father w r as going away 
with the minister to see a sick man. Be- 



28 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

fore he went he harnessed Donkey Bray 
into the wagon and told the children they 
might have a ride. 

u Where shall we go ?" shouted Chris. 
" Let's ride over to see the Smiths." 

"No," cried Margie; " let's go down by 
the pond and get flowers. I know there are 
some there by this time, for it's two weeks 
since the snow melted away, and I'm sure 
the violets have had plenty of time to 
grow/' 

" Now, let me tell you," said Richard, 
"mother's been baking to-day; and let's 
take a loaf of bread and a pie over to poor 
sick Hannah Dean." 

"Why, that's 'most to the pond," said 
Margie. 

" So it is, and we can go that way and 
get some flowers and carry her some," said 
Chris. 

"All right," said Richard ; "so we will." 

Mother very willingly gave them a loaf 
and a pie, and added a cup of cranberry 
jelly; so off they started. Donkey did not 
step off very rapidly, but that gave them 
the more time to enjoy the sweet spring air 



30 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and to chatter and sing and laugh. Don- 
key stepped by degrees over the two miles 
to the pond, where they found a few violets 
and a dear little blue flower that grows 
under the old leaves heaped up around 
the roots of trees, and then they drove over 
to Hannah's. 

Poor Hannah was a cripple. She had 
had the rheumatism a long time, and her 
hands and feet and limbs were all drawn 
up ; so that she lay in a heap in the bed 
and could not straighten herself out. Han- 
nah was delighted, of course, with the chil- 
dren and with what they had brought. She 
was feeling pretty well to-day and had a 
nice chat with them, and kissed and patted 
the baby ; and when it was time for them 
to go, she said, 

" Now I want you all to stand in a row 
right there at the foot of my bed and 
sing." 

They knew what to sing. " And let this 
feeble body fail," was a favorite hymn of 
hers, and the Birds had learned it on pur- 
pose to sing to her. 

" I like that last verse best of all," she 



LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 3 I 

said. " Sing it over once more, darlings, 
if you're not too tired." 

The children were never tired of singing 
to Hannah; so they repeated the verse, and 
then they bade her " Good-bye " and got 
into the wagon and drove home. 

The children thought this was a very nice 
little story, and Edith wished she could go 
in a donkey-cart with some jelly and flow- 
ers to see a sick old woman. 

" Miss Harson," said Malcolm, " do peo- 
ple ever ride on donkeys ?" 

" Not in our country, and not very often 
in England except among children. They 
appear to be fond of these queer little 
steeds, and look forward to donkey-riding 
as one of the great pleasures of going to 
the seashore. An entertaining writer says 
that sweeps and dust-boys in England perch 
themselves on the end of the animal's spine 
and seem highly delighted with this uncom- 
fortable seat. They seem to find much 
amusement in thus riding. 

"It is in warm countries that the finest 
of these animals are found, as cold weather 



32 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

does not agree with them, and they are sel- 
dom seen in the United States. In Spain, for 
instance, which has been called the begin- 
ning of Arabia and Africa, the donkey is 
so much larger, stronger and handsomer 
that he is almost equal to the horse. The 
flower-sellers, who are quite an important 
class, use them to carry their merchandise 
in panniers, or deep baskets, and they are 
fond of decorating their heads with tassels 
and other gay trappings. These asses are 
so well fed and cared for that they are 
really fine-looking animals, and nothing is 
heard of their being stupid and obstinate. 
As to that, here in one of your books is 
this anecdote : 'A boy who sold vegetables 
in London, used in his employment an ass 
which conveyed his baskets from door to 
door. Frequently he gave the poor indus- 
trious creature a handful of hay or greens 
by way of reward. The boy had no need 
of any goad for the animal, and seldom in- 
deed had he to lift up his hand to drive it 
on. This kind treatment was one day re- 
ferred to by some one, and he was asked 
whether his beast was stubborn. "Ah, 




THE YOUNG VEGETABLE-SELLER. 



34 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

master !" he replied; "it's of no use to be 
cruel, and, as for his stubbornness, I cannot 
complain, for he is ready to do anything 
or go anywhere. I bred him myself. He 
is sometimes playful, and once ran away 
from me. You will hardly believe it, but 
there were more than fifty people after 
him, attempting in vain to stop him ; yet, 
after all, he turned back of himself, and 
never stopped till he ran his head into 
my bosom." ' " 

"Why don't people always treat donkeys 
kindly, then?" asked Clara. "They always 
seem to be good with good masters." 

"Ah, my dear child !*' replied her gover- 
ness ; " why do not people always treat 
people kindly ? They certainly behave bet- 
ter under such treatment, and even de- 
praved criminals have been reclaimed by 
love. But how few act on this plan ! Let 
us try to remember that kindness is never 
wasted, but brings forth fruit in the most 
barren soil: 'A righteous man regardeth 
the life of his beast: but the tender mercies 
of the wicked are cruel.' 

" Besides the Spanish donkeys," contin- 



36 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ued the young lady, "Arabian and Egyptian 
donkeys are very handsome animals, and in 
Arabia and Egypt they are used in place of 
horses by the rich and the great. The 
Arabian asses are considered the finest, as 
they carry their heads gracefully and throw 
out their legs in quite an elegant fashion in 
walking or galloping. They are beautifully 
decorated, too, and their ' housings ' are very 
showy. Travelers always have a great deal 
to say about these Eastern donkeys, and I 
have here a description which is rather long 
and meant for grown people. Do you 
think you will care to hear it?" 

" Rather long and meant for grown peo- 
ple " ! Why, that was exactly what the 
children wanted, and, trying to look as 
much like grown people as possible, the 
little Kyles settled themselves for enjoy- 
ment. 

" This is written of Cairo, in Egypt, where 
4 donkey-riding is universal, and no one 
thinks of going beyond the Frank ' — or 
Christian — ' quarters on foot. If he does, 
he must submit to be followed by no less 
than six donkeys with their drivers. A 



LOXG-EARED FRIEXDS. 37 

friend of mine was attended by such a 
cavalcade for two hours, was obliged to 
yield at last, and made no second attempt. 
When we first appeared at the gateway of 
a hotel equipped for an excursion, the rush 
of men and animals was so great that we 
were forced to retreat until our servant 
and the porter whipped us a path through 
the yelling and braying mob. After one or 
two trials I found an intelligent Arab boy 
named Kish who for five piastres a day 
furnished strong and ambitious donkeys, 
which he kept ready at the door from 
morning to nio^ht. The other drivers re- 
spected Kish's privilege, and thenceforth I 
had no trouble. 

" ' The donkeys are so small that my feet 
nearly touched the ground, but there is no 
end to their strength and endurance. Their 
gait, whether in pace or in gallop, is so easy 
and light that fatigue is impossible. The 
drivers take great pride in having high- 
cushioned red saddles, and in hanorino- bits 
of jingling brass to the bridles. They keep 
their donkeys close-shorn, and frequently 
beautify them by painting them various 



38 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

colors. The first animal I rode had legs 
barred like a zebra's, and my friend's re- 
joiced in purple flanks and a yellow belly. 
The drivers run behind them with a short 
stick, punching them from time to time or 
giving them a sharp pinch on the rump. 
Very few of them own their donkeys, 
and I understood their pertinacity when I 
learned that they frequently received a 
beating on returning home empty-handed. 
" i The passage of the bazaars seems at 
first quite as hazardous on donkey-back as 
on foot, but it is the difference between 
knocking somebody down and being knock- 
ed down yourself; and one certainly prefers 
the former alternative. There is no use in 
attempting to guide the donkey, for he will 
not be guided. The driver shouts behind, 
and you are dashed at full speed into a con- 
fusion of other donkeys, camels, horses, 
carts, water carriers and footmen. In vain 
you cry out "Bess" ("Enough)," " Piacco," 
and other desperate abjurations : the driver's 
reply is, " Let the bridle hang loose !" You 
dodge your head under a camel-load of 
planks ; your leg brushes the wheel of a 



LONG-EARED FRIENDS. 39 

dust-cart; you strike a fat Turk plump in 
the back ; you miraculously escape upset- 
ting a fruit-stand ; you scatter a company 
of spectral, white-masked women, and at 
last reach some more quiet street with the 
sensations of a man who has stormed a 
battery. 

" 'At first this sort of riding made me 
very nervous, but presently I let the don- 
key go his own way, and took a curious 
interest in seeing how near a chance I ran 
of striking or being- struck. Sometimes 
there seemed no hope of avoiding a violent 
collision, but by a series of most remarkable 
dodges he generally carried me through in 
safety. The cries of the driver behind me 
gave me no little amusement : "The howadji 
comes' Take care on the right hand ! Take 
care on the left hand ! O man, take care ! 
O maiden, take care ! O boy, get out of 
the way ! The howadji comes !" Kish had 
strong lungs, and his donkey would let 
nothing pass him ; and so, wherever we 
went, we contributed our full share to the 
universal noise and confusion/ " 

This seemed very funny to the children; 



40 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and when Miss Harson had finished read- 
ing, they asked her what " howadji " means. 

"It is the same as 'lord/ 'master' or 
'gentleman/ " was the reply, "and it sounds 
oddly enough to those who have not trav- 
eled in the East. But we shall have to stop 
traveling for this afternoon, for here comes 
Jane to say that dinner is ready." 

This was quite a surprise, for they had all 
been too much interested to feel hungry. 



CHAPTER II. 

BE TTER A CQ UA I NT A NCE. 

I HOPE, Miss Harson," said Edith, in 
a very coaxing way, " that you are 
going to tell us some more about these 
nice donkeys?" 

"I shall want you to tell me something 
about them first," was the smiling reply. 
"Who can remember where the donkey, or 
ass, is mentioned in the Bible ?" 

"I remember Balaam's ass," said Clara, 
"but I can't remember just where it is 
spoken of." 

"Then I must help you a little. You will 
find the account, I think, in the twenty- 
second chapter of Numbers." 

Having found the place, Clara read as 
Miss Harson requested her, from the 
twenty-first to the thirty-fourth verses: 

" 'And Balaam rose up in the morning, 
and saddled his ass, and went with the 

41 



42 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

princes of Moab. And God's anger was 
kindled because he went ; and the angel of 
the Lord stood in the way for an adversary 
against him. Now he was riding upon his 
ass, and his two servants were with him. 
And the ass saw the aneel of the Lord 
standing in the way, and his sword drawn 
in his hand ; and the ass turned aside out 
of the way, and went into the field ; and 
Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the 
way. But the angel of the Lord stood in a 
path of the vineyards, a wall being on this 
side, and a wall on that side. And when 
the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she 
thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed 
Balaam's foot against the wall ; and he 
smote her again. And the angel of the 
Lord went further, and stood in a narrow 
place, where there was no way to turn, 
either to the ri^ht hand or to the left. 
And when the ass saw the angel of the 
Lord, she fell down under Balaam : and 
Balaam's ano-er was kindled, and he smote 
the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened 
the mouth of the ass, and she said unto 
Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that 



BETTER ACQUAINTANCE. 43 

thou hast smitten me these three times ? 
And Balaam said unto the ass, Because 
thou hast mocked me : I would there were 
a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill 
thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am 
not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden 
ever since I was thine unto this day ? was I 
ever wont to do so unto thee? And he 
said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the 
eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of 
the Lord standing in the way, and his 
sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed 
down his head, and fell flat on his face. 
And the angel of the Lord said unto him, 
Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these 
three times ? behold, I went out to withstand 
thee, because thy way is perverse before 
me: and the ass saw me, and turned from 
me these three times; unless she had 
turned from me, surely now also I had 
slain thee, and saved her alive.' ' 

" How mean Balaam must have felt/' 
said Malcolm, "when he found out that he 
had been whipping the ass for saving his 
life!" 

" But he must have been awfully fright- 



44 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ened," added Clara, " to hear her speak. — 
It sounds like a fairy-tale, Miss Harson." 

" It is the only place in the Bible," said 
their governess, " where an animal is repre- 
sented as speaking, but we must remem- 
ber this incident when we are disposed 
to regard the ass as a particularly stupid 
animal. A man who saw the ano-el of the 
Lord could not w r ell be frightened by any- 
thing else that might happen, and this, I 
think, accounts for Balaam's taking the 
speaking of his ass as though it had been 
an every-day affair. The ass is often men- 
tioned in the Bible, for in Eastern countries 
it is used as we use a saddle-horse by peo- 
ple of the highest rank, who decorate it 
with a very handsome saddle and harness. 
If you will find the twenty-second chapter 
of Genesis, Malcolm, and read the third 
verse, you will see that Abraham, who was 
a rich chieftain and prince, used this animal 
for riding." 

Malcolm read : 

" 'And Abraham rose up early in the 
morning, and saddled his ass, and took two 
of his young men with him, and Isaac his 



BETTER ACQUAINTANCE. 45 

son, and clave the wood for the burnt offer- 
ing, and rose up and went unto the place 
of which God had told him.' ' 

" This was that melancholy journey to 
offer up ' his son, his only son Isaac/ which 
had so happy an ending. In Judges, tenth 
chapter and fourth verse, it is said of Jair 
the Gileadite that ' he had thirty sons that 
rode on thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty 
cities/ Another judge had 'forty sons and 
thirty nephews that rode on threescore and 
ten ass-colts / which shows plainly that these 
animals were used by the rich and the great 
in place of horses/' 

"But they had horses," said Clara, " be- 
cause you told us, Miss Harson, of so many 
places in the Bible where horses are men- 
tioned." 

" Yes, dear, that is very true ; but the horse 
was especially a war-animal, as has also been 
shown, while the ass was used more for jour- 
neys and purposes of peace. Our blessed 
Lord on his entry into Jerusalem, just be- 
fore his crucifixion, rode upon an ass 'as 
any prince or ruler would have done who 
was engaged on a peaceful journey/ 'Meek 



46 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and lowly was he, as became the new char- 
acter hitherto unknown to the warlike and 
restless Jews — a Prince, not of war, as had 
been all other celebrated kings, but of peace. 
Had he come as the Jews expected, despite 
so many prophecies, their Messiah to come, 
as a great king and conqueror, he might 
have ridden the war-horse and been sur- 
rounded with countless legions of armed 
men ; but he came as the herald of peace, 
and not of war, and, though meek and 
lowly, yet a Prince, riding, as became a 
prince, on an ass-colt which had borne no 
inferior burden.' " 

"I am glad, Miss Harson," said Malcolm, 
"that you have read us that, because I al- 
ways thought our Saviour rode upon an ass 
to show how poor and humble he was." 

"You will see," replied his governess, 
"more and more, as we study the Bible 
with the help of histories and travels, that 
fully to understand it we must be well 
acquainted with the customs and the ideas 
of Oriental countries; and our talks upon 
donkeys alone will help to improve our 
knowledge of this subject. Here is a picture 






BETTER ACQUAINTANCE, 



47 



of Syrian asses (p. 48) that will show 
you what pretty animals they are. — These 




HE A- XMAoe 

THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 



look like 'little horses/ Edie ; they have 
narrow heads, you see, instead of broad 



4 8 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



ones, like other donkeys, and their ears 
are not nearly so large." 




EASTERN ASSES. 



"Aren't they white?" asked Edith. 

" Perhaps they are, dear ; for white asses 



BETTER ACQUAINTANCE. 49 

are found in the East, and very beautiful 
little animals they are. They are used 
only by persons of high rank, as they were 
in old times, for in the song of Deborah 
and Barak * we find the words, ' Speak, ye 
that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judg- 
ment, and walk by the way.' These white 
asses are larger and swifter than the or- 
dinary ones, and with a handsome crimson 
saddle and a bridle of light chains and red 
leather such a steed makes a very fine ap- 
pearance. ' Is that active little fellow,' 
writes a traveler, * who with racehorse coat 
and full flanks moves under his rider with 
the light step and the action of a pony — is 
he the same animal as that starved and 
head-bowed object of the North, subject 
for all pity and cruelty and clothed with 
rags and insult ?' " 

" I should like to see the pretty saddles 
and chains/' said Clara. " I wish they'd 
put some on our horses!' 

" They'd frighten all the other horses 
then," suggested Malcolm, " and all the 
mad bulls would run after 'em." 

* Judg. v. 10. 



50 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

This was an alarming picture until Miss 
Harson quietly said, 

" How many mad bulls do you usually 
see at once ?" 

The children laughed at the idea that had 
suddenly entered their heads of a herd or 
so of mad bulls running after the crimson 
saddles, and they found that, like most 
frights, it would not bear very close exami- 
nation. 

"The horses would be no more fright- 
ened than these Eastern steeds are," con- 
tinued the young lady, " if, like them, they 
were accustomed to gay trappings. But 
such display, which seems natural to the 
Orientals, would not suit our more sober 
people. — The saddle and the bridle which 
you admire so much, Clara, are quite differ- 
ent from ours, and the saddle especially is 
a very complicated affair in two or three 
pieces. First there is spread over the 
animal's back a thick woolen cloth folded 
several times ; then comes a very thick 
pad of straw covered with carpet and hav- 
ing a flat top. The pommel is so high that 
the rider is perched ever so far above the 



BETTER ACQUAINTANCE. 5 I 

animal's back ; and over the saddle a hand- 
some cloth of bright colors hangs down at 
the sides, and is often very costly. It is 
edged with gold and colored fringe and 
tassels, and the bridle also has tassels — 
often bells, embroidery, and other orna- 
ments. A first-class steed beloncrino- to 
a wealthy Syrian is really a gorgeous affair. 
— Now, Malcolm," added his governess, 
"you may read to us this description of 
the ass in Egypt and Palestine. ,, 

Malcolm was a good reader for a boy of 
his age, and he felt it to be quite an honor 
to read several paragraphs to the little 
company : 

" * What, then, are the characteristics of 
the ass ? Much the same as those which 
adorn it in other parts of the East — namely, 
it is useful for riding and for carrying bur- 
dens ; it is sensible of kindness, and shows 
gratitude ; it is very steady, and is larger, 
stronger and more tractable than its Euro- 
pean congener ; its pace is easy and pleas- 
ant ; and it will shrink from no labor if only 
its poor daily feed of straw and barley is 
fairly given. If well and liberally supplied, 



52 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

it is capable of any enterprise and wears 
an altered and dignified mien, apparently 
forgetful of its extraction except when un- 
deservedly beaten by its masters, who, how- 
ever, are not so much to be blamed, because, 
having learned to live among sticks, thongs 
and rods, they follow the same system of 
education with their miserable dependants. 

"'The wealthy feed him well, deck him 
with fine harness and silver trappings, and 
cover him, when his work is done, with rich 
Persian carpets. The poor do the best they 
can for him, steal for his benefit, give him a 
corner at their fireside, and in cold weather 
sleep with him for more warmth. In Pal- 
estine all the rich men, whether monarchs 
or chiefs of villages, possess a number of 
asses, keeping them with their flocks, like 
the patriarchs of old. No one can travel 
in that country and observe how the ass is 
employed for all purposes without being 
struck with the exactness with which the 
Arabs retain the Hebrew customs. 

" ' The result of this treatment is that the 
Eastern ass is an enduring and tolerably 
swift animal, vying with the camel itself in 



BETTER ACQUAINTANCE. 53 

its powers of long-continued travel, its 
usual pace being a sort of easy canter. 
On rough ground or up an ascent it is 
said even to gain on the horse — probably 
because its little sharp hoofs give it a firmer 
footing where the larger hoof of the horse 
is liable to slip/ " 

Clara and Edith were particularly inter- 
ested in the idea of sleeping with a donkey, 
which they were quite sure they should 
not like ; but Miss Harson was equally 
sure that if they had always been accus- 
tomed to it, like the poor children of the 
East, they would not mind it at all. 

"The wild ass," continued their gover- 
ness, " is often mentioned in Scripture, and, 
judging from the pictures of it, this also 
seems to be a pretty little animal. In 
summer he wears a gray coat with a red- 
dish tinge, but in winter the red disappears. 
He is wild in every sense of the word, and 
swifter than the best horses, seeming to 
see, hear and scent the most distant ap- 
proach. No matter how young the wild 
ass may be captured, it seems impossible 
to tame him, and in the book of Job we 



54 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

find this description: 'Who hath sent out 
the wild ass free ? or who hath loosed the 
bands of the wild ass ? Whose house I 
have made the wilderness, and the barren 
land' (or salt places) 'his dwellings. He 
scorneth the multitude of the city, neither 
regardeth he the crying of the driver. The 
range of the mountains is his pasture, and 
he searcheth after every green thing/* 
These animals assemble in herds, some- 
times of several hundred, and wander in 
search of ' every green thing ' over large 
tracts of country. 'Like many other wild 
animals, they have a custom of ascending 
hills or rising grounds and thence survey- 
ing the country, and even in the plains 
they will generally contrive to discover 
some earth-mound or heap of sand from 
which they may act as sentinels and give 
the alarm in case of danger/ ' 

This seemed very comical to the children ; 
and if even wild asses could do this, it was 
scarcely so wonderful that Balaam's ass 
should speak. 

* Job xxxix. 5-8. 



CHAPTER III. 

IN THE FAMILY. 

MISS H ARSON," asked Malcolm, « is 
a mule the same as a donkey?" 

44 No," replied his governess; "a mule is 
half a horse and half a donkey, or ass. 
Mules are larger and stronger than don- 
keys, but have all their lightness, surefoot- 
edness and endurance. They are very 
desirable for carrying burdens over rough 
countries, and also for the saddle. The 
Andalusian mules, which are seen in Spain 
and the Spanish colonies, are very large 
and handsome, and in traveling- among the 
Andes no other beasts can stand the risks 
and exposure which they bear with ease." 

"I don't think there are any mules in the 
Bible," said Clara ; " I don't remember see- 
ing the name there." 

"Then," said Miss Harson, smiling, "you 



56 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

will have to find the thirteenth chapter of 
Second Samuel and read us the last half of 
the twenty-ninth verse." 

Clara was very much surprised as she 
read slowly the words, 

" ' Then all the king's sons arose, and 
every man gat him up upon his mule and 
fled.'" 

" There is another place, a few chapters 
on," continued the young lady, " where 
a mule is mentioned in connection with a 
dreadful event. — Can you not remember, 
Malcolm, what it was?" 

How Malcolm wished that he could ! but 
it seemed to the perplexed boy that the more 
he tried to remember,the more he could not 
think of it. 

"I am sure, though, that you can remem- 
ber, all of you, Absalom's wicked rebellion 
against his father and his kino-, and how 
dreadfully he was punished for it? It is 
written : 'And Absalom met the servants 
of David. And Absalom rode upon a 
mule, and the mule went under the thick 
boughs of a great oak, and his head caught 
hold of the oak, and he was taken up be- 



IN THE FAMILY. 57 

tween the heaven and the earth ; and the 
mule that was under him went away.' " * 

"But why didn't he fall," asked Edith, 
in a great puzzle, "when the mule went 
away ?" 

" Because, dear, his long, thick hair was, 
as we are told in another chapter, 'heavy 
on him/ and this became entangled in the 
tree, so that he could not escape. In those 
days mules were considered good enough 
for the king's sons, and even the king him- 
self, to ride upon. In First Kings, first chap- 
ter, David commanded, ' Cause Solomon 
my son to ride upon mine own mule;' and 
this was considered the same as putting 
him on the throne." 

"Are mules very obstinate ?" asked Clara. 
"Jane told John yesterday that 'he was as 
obstinate as a mule.' " 

Miss Harson could scarcely keep from 
smiling, for that worthy man's obstinacy 
was proverbial ; but she replied quite 
soberly : 

"There is nothing- said about it in the 
Bible, Clara, which seems a little strange, 

* 2 Sam. xviii. 9. 



58 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

as travelers declare that the Eastern mules 
are quite as perverse as those in other 
countries. They say that * they are very 
apt to shy at anything- or nothing at all ; 
they bite fiercely, and every now and then 
they indulge in a violent kicking-fit, fling- 
ing out their heels with wonderful force 
and rapidity, and turning round and round 
on their fore feet so quickly that it is hardly 
possible to approach them.' " 

"Well," said Malcolm, "I'm glad that I'm 
not a king's son, if I should have to ride on 
a mule." 

"It does not sound attractive, certainly," 
said his governess, "but the royal mules 
were probably too well trained to behave 
in this way. Mules are famous all the 
world over for kicking and for objecting 
to do the particular thing that is required 
of them. They often stand quite still when 
it is particularly desirable that they should 
go on ; but when they can be cured of 
these failings, they are very valuable ani- 
mals. They carry heavy burdens with the 
utmost patience, and find their way where 
no horse could manage to pass. They can 




HEAVILY LADEN. 



6o 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



appreciate kindness as well as other ani- 
mals, and a traveler in Spain said that he 
found his mule more tractable than many 
reasoning bipeds. This was because he 
shared his food with him and talked to 
him in a friendly, caressing way, ' when he 
would wag his long ears as though con- 
scious that some compliment was paid 
him.' " 

"Was not that cunning ? M exclaimed 
Edith. "It seems just like a dog." 

11 Mules are like dogs in desiring to be 
well treated and caressed; and the more 
they have of this kindness, the less obsti- 
nate they are. They always seem obstinate 
and contrary with drivers who beat them to 
make them go. Properly treated, the mule is 
a good and faithful animal and a most val- 
uable beast of burden. It is often employed 
in our own country to draw heavy loads, and 
in the days of canal-boats it was very use- 
ful. In Old-Testament days, also, the mule 
was used for other purposes besides riding, 
and Naaman said to the prophet Elisha, 
after he had been cured of his leprosy, 
4 Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given 



IN THE FAMILY. 6 1 

to thy servant two mules' burden of earth?' 
These mules, however, were probably as 
different from the others as our carriage- 
horses are from the poor omnibus drudge. 
''Another thing," continued Miss Har- 
son, " for which these animals are valuable 
is mountain-traveling; and among the Alps 
and Andes there are fearful precipices which 
only mules can pass in safety. Even they 
would often rather not, but no other animal 
will, make the attempt. There will be a 
narrow path with immense heights on one 
side and dreadful chasms on the other, and, 
as though this were not bad enough, the 
road itself will go down for several hun- 
dred yards at every little distance. The 
mules are very cautious when they come 
to these places, and they seem to be fully 
aware of the danger they are in ; so quite 
of their own accord they stand perfectly 
still on the edge of one of these descents, 
and the driver may urge them on in vain 
until they are quite ready to move. These 
animals — so often called ■ stupid ' — are evi- 
dently considering just how that particular 
precipice is to be managed. They look 



62 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

carefully over the road and tremble at the 
danger before them, but, all the same, they 
go. They begin by placing their fore feet 
as if stopping themselves ; then they bring 
the hind feet together rather forward, as 
if they were going to lie down. The next 
thing is a sudden slide down the declivity, 
very much like 'coasting' down a hill on 
the snow ; but it is done in a flash, and the 
rider has as much as he can do to keep 
himself fast on the saddle, for the least 
movement to one side or the other would 
result in the destruction of both mule and 
man." 

" Oh !" said Clara, with a long breath ; " I 
should not like to travel in that way." 

" I would." cried Malcolm ; " it's perfectly 
splendid. Just think of sliding down hill 
like — like — " 

"A mule," finished his governess, laugh- 
ing. 

Edith was too sorry for " the poor 
mules" to see anything funny in it, and 
she had never felt a desire to slide down 
hill in any way. 

" Now, Miss Harson," said Clara, coax- 



IN THE FAMILY. 63 

ingly, " is not there some nice story about 
donkeys and mules ?" 

" There are some queer legends and fa- 
bles/' was the reply, " and — and I will see 
what I can do." 

The children thought this quite equal to 
one story, at least, and they also wanted 
the legends and fables, and all that was to 
be had. 

" As to the legends," continued the young 
lady, "one of them, which is very ancient, 
refers to the black mark which the ass has 
along the spine and across the shoulders, 
forming a complete cross. This mark is 
said to have been placed upon the animal 
as a memorial of our Saviours riding upon 
an ass on his triumphal entry into Jerusa- 
lem. 'There is another Christian legend 
respecting the ass of Palestine, which is 
thought to owe its superiority in size, 
swiftness and strength to the fact that it 
helped to warm the infant Saviour in the 
manger, that it carried him and his mother 
into Egypt and back again, and that it was 
used by the Lord himself and his disciples/ 
A legend of the mule says that ' when the 



64 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

holy family were about to travel into Egypt, 
Joseph chose a mule to carry them. He 
was in the act of saddling the animal when 
it kicked him, after the fashion of mules. 
Angry with it for such misconduct, Joseph 
substituted an ass for the mule, thus giving 
the former the honor of conveying the fam- 
ily into Egypt, and laid a curse upon it that 
it should never have parents nor descend- 
ants of its own kind, and that it should be 
so disliked as never to be admitted into its 
master's house, as is the case with the horse 
and other domesticated animals/ " 

Little Edith was listening with wide-open 
eyes, while Clara said, 

"It isn't any of it true, is it, Miss Har- 
son ?" 

" No, dear," was the reply, "we have no 
reason to suppose that it is ; yet many such 
ideas originated with pious but ignorant 
people. I think you will like some fables 
better, and to understand the first one you 
must know that the horse has always been 
supposed to have a great contempt for the 
ass, and to dislike him because of his strong 
resemblance to himself. 



IN THE FAMILY. 65 

"A man who owned both a horse and 
an ass gave the latter animal nearly all 
the work to do and loaded him w T ith bur- 
dens, while the horse would canter off with 
a grand, independent air, having nothing to 
carry unless it was the master himself, and 
this he thought an honor. As for that des- 
picable ass, he reflected, he was glad that 
he was not in his place, but that was be- 
cause he was a handsome animal and a 
credit to his owner. 

11 One day the poor ass was so terribly 
overburdened that he felt his strength griv- 
ing out, and, as the horse was not even car- 
rying his master, he appealed to him for 
help. 

" ' If you will kindly take part of my 
burden,' said he, 'you will not mind it, and 
I shall be able to get on ; but unless you 
divide it w 7 ith me, I shall sink down ex- 
hausted.' 

" The horse's only reply was a snort 
of contempt, and his humble companion 
pleaded again and again without any suc- 
cess. Then he fell down under his burden, 
and died ; and the horse, who would not 
5 



66 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

make the least effort to save him, was 
properly punished, for no sooner did their 
owner see what had happened than he took 
the load from the back of the ass and piled 
it all on the horse ; then, wishing to use the 
ass's skin, he slung the dead animal also 
over the disgusted living one, who, for 
having refused to carry part of his com- 
panion's load, was now obliged to carry the 
whole of it and the ass himself besides." 

The children were delighted with this 
speedy and just punishment, and their 
governess told them that it was one of 
^Esop's fables which she had repeated to 
them — not as it was in the book, but as she 
remembered it. 

" There is another one," she continued, 
" of an ass who overreached himself very 
much as the horse did. He was owned by 
a huckster who took him quite a long dis- 
tance to the seashore to get salt for his 
customers, as he had been told that it was 
much cheaper there. A very liberal load 
was piled on the donkey, and the animal 
did not enjoy his burden at all. In passing 
a slippery ledge of rock on their way back 



IN THE FAMILY. 6 J 

to the town the ass fell into the water below, 
and the salt, of course, was melted. As the 
ass was not hurt, however, he thought it a 
fortunate tumble because it had rid him of 
his load, and he went home rejoicing. 

" But soon after the huckster tried it 
again ; and when they reached the sea- 
shore, the ass was even more heavily 
loaded than before. This was not to be 
borne ; and when they reached the stream 
where he had gotten rid of his former bur- 
den, down went the donkey, salt and all, into 
the water. But his master thought this to 
be quite overdoing the matter, and the next 
time the slippery animal was provided with 
a load of sponges instead of salt. When 
he tried his old trick with these, he found 
that, instead of getting rid of them, the 
water had made them twice as heavy as 
they were before. The journey home 
seemed a very long one, and he had 
plenty of time to reflect that his own cun- 
ning had brought him into this unpleasant 
predicament." 

"I wonder if that is true?" said Malcolm, 
forgetting that it was a fable. 



68 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" Something very much like it might be," 
was the reply, " for I think that animals have 
much more sense and cunning than is gen- 
erally supposed. But have you not all had 
enough fables ?" 

Not if there were any more, and Miss 
Harson laughingly insisted that she should 
stop with an account of the ass that wanted 
to be a lap-dog. This promised to be very 
funny, but the young lady warned her audi- 
ence that it had a sad end : 

"There was once a donkey who was a 
well-behaved animal, and certainly very well 
off as donkeys go. He had comfortable 
quarters, plenty of good food and was 
never overworked. He was fond, too, of 
his master, and liked to have him come to 
the stable now and then and pat him. This 
was all he ever expected, and he was quite 
happy and contented until a wretched little 
lap-dog came into the family — that is, he 
called it ' wretched' because he did not like 
it, but it was really a very pretty, sprightly 
little animal. What a fuss his master did 
make over that dog ! He was always 
teaching it tricks and laughing at its an- 



IN THE FAMILY. 69 

tics, and he would actually let it curl itself 
up in his lap and go to sleep there. He 
never treated his faithful donkey with so 
much favor, and the affectionate but ugly 
animal set himself at work to find out the 
reason. First he would watch that miser- 
able little dog to see exactly what he did, 
and then go and do it himself; for he had 
probably been too quiet and had stayed too 
much in the background. Great was the 
consternation one dav when the ass, having* 
broken from his fastenings in the stable, 
came prancing into the house and pre- 
sented himself to his master rearing up on 
his hind legs, as he had seen the little dog 
do. Then he rolled over and over on the 
floor in imitation of ' Flip/ and playfully bit 
and tore at things, as that small animal 
sometimes did. He had already knocked 
down a table and broken the valuable china 
on it, chewed some handsome books and 
torn the curtains before the servants could 
get at him, for fright ; but when he put his 
hoofs on his master's lap and prepared to 
vault into it like the lap-dog, he was at- 
tacked with brooms and cudgels on all 



yO SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

sides as a mad creature, and beaten so 
unmercifully that he never got out of the 
room alive. He was a good donkey, but 
a very undesirable lap-dog." 

This story was pronounced the best of 
all, and the children laughed merrily at the 
idea of a great donkey acting like a little 
dog. It was too bad, though, that people 
did not understand what he meant by it, 
instead of killing him ; and if he had not 
been killed, he would have been ever so 
sorry that he did not stay in his stable. 

This last was from Edith, whom Malcolm 
pronounced "a dreadfully funny little thing," 
and whose remarks certainly were rather 
mixed up. But the little girl herself could 
not see that she was at all u funny." 

a Now," said Miss Harson, "are there 
any children so insatiable as to want a 
regular story after all this ? Because, if 
there are " — the pause was rather alarm- 
ing — " why, I've got one ready for them." 

The speaker was so desperately hugged 
for the next few minutes that she laugh- 
ingly declared it was almost as bad as 
encountering a party of bears. No; it 



IN THE FAMILY. J I 

was not one of her own stories, which 
would not have been nearly so good — here 
there was a series of incredulous looks — 
but was a very bright one written by Mr. 
W. H. Beard for Harper s Young People ; 
and, having finally recovered her breath, 
the young lady began to read 

THE WAYWARD DONKEY. 

There was once a little donkey who 
gave his poor mother no end of trouble, 
he was so stubborn, unreasonable, exacting 
and dreadfully saucy. Why, when angry 
he didn't hesitate at all to call his mother 
an old donkey right out. One day, when 
crossed in some particularly absurd desire, 
he declared he would run away. Imme- 
diately putting his threat into execution, 
off he trotted, heedless of his poor fond 
mother's entreaties. Away he went, sus- 
tained at first by his temper and pride, but 
as the day wore on he became weary, faint 
and hungry. The matter of food and shel- 
ter became a question of serious alarm, and 
how to obtain them was a problem too great 
for his little donkey-brain to solve. He 



72 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

now remembered that he had never had 
to trouble himself with all this before, all 
the needs and comforts of life having been 
provided for him without thought or care 
on his part. 

The land over which he was traveling 
was quite poor and afforded only a few 
little stunted thistles, which seemed to con- 
sist more of prickers than anything else, 
which pierced his tender little nose and 
made it bleed. He saw plenty of oats and 
other grains, as well as nice vegetables, 
growing in fields, but so well guarded by 
high fences that he could not hope to get 
at them. Many times, when hunger and 
fatigue had subdued his pride, would he 
have returned home ; but he had wan- 
dered so far that he had not the least 
idea which way he had come. To add to 
his distress, he saw the sun was fast declin- 
ing; already he felt the chills of evening. 
But there was no use bemoaning his fate, 
and he must make the best of it. 

At length, too weary to travel farther, he 
was forced to lie down to rest, and selected 
for the purpose an unfenced, overgrown 



IN THE FAMILY. 73 

piece of ground of considerable extent. 
Here, as he lay among the weeds, nothing 
was visible of him above their tops but his 
two ears, which might easily have been 
taken for two stakes or the roots of an 
upturned stump. As he lay shivering in 
the damp grass he felt anything but com- 
fortable. The sun went down ; the moon 
arose and shed a cold light over the face 
of nature which made him feel lonely in- 
deed. 

Suddenly there appeared above the grass 
several other pairs of ears bobbing about 
quite like his own. The sight thrilled him 
with something akin to pleasure, for he 
asked himself, " To whom can such ears 
belong but to little donkeys? and if young 
donkeys are around, they must have moth- 
ers, or a mother, near by, who, no doubt, 
would be very glad to adopt such a fine 
specimen of the race as I." (The reader 
has already seen that he was a conceited 
little donkey.) So saying, he arose quickly 
to his feet. The others stood up also — 
though not, as he did, on their four feet, 
but on their hind legs ; that is to say, they 



74 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

stood up on their haunches — and looked at 
him in blank amazement; but as he ap- 
proached them they bounded away so fast 
that it was useless to try to overtake them. 
When he stood still, they also stopped and 
again stood up on their haunches and peered 
at him over the tops of the weeds. Master 
Donkey did not try again to go to them, 
but expostulated with them upon their ill- 
breeding and unkind behavior, called them 
cousins, told them he was tired and hungry 
and asked for food and shelter. 

This touched their tender little hearts, and 
they cautiously drew near and made the 
acquaintance of their supposed cousin. On 
a close scrutiny, however, they doubted his 
claim to relationship, and flatly told him so. 
But they good-naturedly said if he was 
hungry it was no more than common 
humanity first to relieve his wants, and 
discuss the question afterward: even mur- 
derous man would do as much as that; so 
they brought him carrots and other vege- 
tables in abundance from a farm-garden 
near by from which they were accustomed 
to supply their own wants. 



IN THE FAMILY. J$ 

When his appetite was satisfied, his hu- 
manity, such as it was, oozed out, and he 
became as arrogant as ever, and stoutly 
claimed that he was their biof cousin — 
though, he said, he was not particularly 
anxious to be acknowledged by such a 
pack of little dwarfish, thieving creatures 
as they were, who would steal through the 
farmer's fence to purloin vegetables for a 
cousin whom they impudently refused to 
recognize. Their spokesman retorted and 
said they claimed a right to a share suf- 
ficient for their needs of whatever grew 
upon the earth. To be sure, they were ob- 
liged to obtain it stealthily at night, as the 
man claimed it all for himself and it would 
be almost certain death to be found by him 
within his enclosure ; indeed, many of their 
unfortunate fellows had already suffered 
death for the exercise of this natural right. 
If, however, he regarded their act as a 
crime, he w r as himself a criminal, inasmuch 
as he had accepted the fruits and profited 
bv the act, knowing how the fruit had been 
obtained. To this the donkey could make 
no answer; at least, he did not think it 



j6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

prudent to try, as night was still before 
him and the question of shelter still un- 
solved. 

Good-nature was soon restored and the 
discussion renewed. The rabbits ("I thought 
so !" exclaimed Malcolm) could see many 
points of difference, but only two of re- 
semblance. It certainly could not be denied 
that the ears were remarkably like and the 
complexion was very nearly the same, but 
the hard feet were so widely different from 
their own soft paws. And the tail, too — 
long and dangling, like a cow's ! What 
a tail for a rabbit ! Then, again, they 
had observed that he stood while eating, 
whereas a true rabbit always crouched 
comfortably near the ground while taking 
his food. In the matter of voice, too, they 
flattered themselves there was a wide 
difference. However, all this might be 
changed or improved by judicious training, 
except the feet ; the hoofs they despaired of. 
The tail they proposed to nibble off at a 
proper length from the body. This opera- 
tion the donkey positively refused to submit 
to, but finally consented to hold his tail up 



IN THE FAMILY. ^ 

over his back, as much like a rabbit as pos- 
sible, and, moreover, would at once set 
about his lessons to learn their ways, so 
that he might the sooner adapt himself to 
their habits and become one of them. 

Accordingly, one of the cleverest of their 
number was charged with his instruction, 
and immediately began with the important 
art of sitting on the haunches with his tail 
curled up upon his back. In this, though 
he strained every nerve to perform it, he 
made an ignominious failure. He could 
maintain the position for only a moment, 
and then would pitch forward or fall back- 
ward, seeming to rock over on his curved 
tail and cutting such a ridiculous figure that 
it made all the rabbits laugh. This made 
him very angry, and he began to use his 
heels in a most vigorous and unrabbitlike 
manner. All ran for their lives, but not all 
escaped unhurt. The " spraggly " forms of 
two or three of them nearest him showed 
dark against the moonlit sky before they 
limped off and, joining their fellows, gath- 
ered in a little knot at a distance from their 
fractious pupil and discussed his merits with 



yS SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

great freedom. They voted him an ill- 
natured brute, a stupid dolt — in short, a 
perfect donkey. Scarcely had they arrived 
at this unanimous conclusion, when "Pop! 
pop! Bang! bang!" four loud reports, 
and four little rabbits lay in the agonies 
of death. 

The farmer and his son, seeing by the 
moonlight strange movements in the field, 
had stolen upon them with their double- 
barreled guns in the unguarded moment 
of their excitement, and, as the boy ex- 
pressed it, bagged four rabbits and a 
donkey ; for poor little donkey stood para- 
lyzed with fear. He had never looked upon 
death before, and was an easy captive. 
Without troubling himself to inquire who 
was the rightful owner, the farmer took 
him for his own and housed him that night 
in a stall by himself, where he passed almost 
the entire night, notwithstanding the fatigues 
of the day, in such reflections as he was 
capable of. 

He grew up to be a great donkey, to be 
sure, but the lessons of that day were never 
forgotten by him. 



IN THE FAMILY. 



79 



The children were so much interested in 
this story that it was quite a shock to have 
it end so suddenly, and they asked in a very 
injured way why they were not told how the 
donkey got back to his mother. Their gov- 
erness could only reply that she did not 
know ; perhaps he never got back at all. 




CHAPTER IV. 

WITH A HUMP. 

I SHOULD like," said Miss Harson, " to 
have some one, or all, of you tell me 
what other animal is quite as much a beast 
of burden as the ass, and quite as useful to 
man — even more so in hot or dry coun- 
tries/' 

"Is it in the Bible ?" asked Malcolm. 

"Yes," was the reply; "it is a Bible ani- 
mal, and you will see its portrait in most 
books of Eastern travel." 

" I know !" cried at least two voices. 
"It's the camel!" 

" The very creature, and in many respects 
it is one of the most interesting and won- 
derful of animals. It is called the ' ship of 
the desert' because it safely navigates the 
sandy sea where other animals would perish 
beneath the burning sun, and carries the 
traveler, too, ' to the haven where he would 

80 




LOADED CAMELS. 



82 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

be/ The Arabs value their camels very 
highly, and it is well for them that they can , 
find sufficient food in the thorny bushes 
which are found here and there in the 
desert, as there is not much else to be 
had." 

"What funny-looking things they are!" 
said Edith, who was gazing with great 
interest at a picture of some loaded camels 
which Miss Harson had just shown her in 
a book. " They are so dreadfully high ! 
Don't the people have a ladder to climb 
up on their backs ?" 

" No, dear ; I never heard of a camel 
ladder, but I quite agree with you that 
they do not look like comfortable animals 
to ride on." 

"There's the hump, too," said Clara — 
" or two of 'em. Some seem to have one, 
and some two. Why is that, Miss Har- 
son ? 

" Because they are different kinds of 
camels. The Arabian camel has but one 
hump, while the Bactrian camel has two. 
The dromedary is also a camel with one 
hump, as it is only a finer breed of the 



WITH A HUMP. 83 

Arabian species. It goes faster than the 
ordinary kind, and its name means 'a run- 
ner;' its principal use is to carry messages 
across the desert. Here is a picture of 
one with a postman on his back, and you 
can see how fast the animal's legs are 
moving." 

" What awful legs they are !" said Mal- 
colm. " No wonder the ^amel looks as if 
he was up on stilts when he is standing 
straight." 

"Will he bite?" asked Edith, with a 
shrinking from even the mouth in the pict- 
ure. She did not think it had an amiable 
expression. 

" I am sorry to say," replied her gover- 
ness, " that it has been known to do so 
when angry ; and as its teeth are very 
sharp and strong the better to cut up its 
hard, thorny food, and as it can twist its 
long neck about so quickly, it is not ad- 
visable to oret within biting-reach. " 

" I don't like its neck and mouth," said 
Clara ; " they put me in mind of a big 
snake." 

"I don't like any part of it," added 



84 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

Malcolm. " I think that even a donkey 
is prettier/' 

" What does it have such a short tail 
for/' asked Edith, " when it's such a great 
biof creature ?" 

"That is the latest style, dear — for 
camels," said Miss Harson, who was quite 
amused at the unpopularity of the gro- 
tesque-looking animal. "They never have 
sweeping tails like horses, nor even like 
donkeys. These funny creatures are very 
iseful in their native countries, but, unlike 
the horse and the ass, they are of no use 
anywhere else." 

" But how," asked Malcolm, in a great 
puzzle, "does any one ever climb up on a 
camel to ride him ?" 

"The rider does not climb up at all, as I 
meant to have told Edith," was the reply, 
" but the camel kneels to receive its burden. 
It first drops on its knees, then on the joints 
of the hind legs, after that on its breast, and 
then again on the bent hind legs. ' Kneel- 
ing is a natural position with the camel, 
which is furnished with large callosities, or 
warts, on the legs and breast, which act 



WITH A HUMP. 85 

as cushions on which it may rest its great 
weight without breaking the skin/ So you 
see that, like many other animals, it is 
wonderfully fitted for the uses to which 
it is put." 

"How tall is a camel, Miss Harson ?" 
asked Clara. " It looks almost as hi^h as 
a house." 

" Not quite, dear/' was the smiling reply, 
"but, as a tall camel will measure seven 
feet from the ground to the top of the 
hump, and the saddle with its cushions 
adds a foot or two more, it is easy to 
understand that a fall from such an ani- 
mal's back is not a trifling matter." 

"I should think, though," said Malcolm, 
who was intently studying the ungainly 
creature, " that it would be about as pleas- 
ant to fall off as to stay on. How does 
any one manage to stick on a point like 
that?" 

"You must remember that no one tries 
to ride on a camel without a saddle, and the 
saddle makes a ^reat difference. Besides 
the cushions with which it is provided, there 
is in front a long upright piece to which the 



86 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



rider can cling to prevent his being thrown 
off. The Arabs pass one leg over this 
wooden peg and hitch the other leg over 




THE CAMEL. 



the foot that hangs. But the safest way 
of sitting, though not the most comfortable, 
is to cross the legs in front and grasp the 
pommel with both hands. " 



WITH A HUMP. Sy 

"I shouldn't think," said Clara, " that any 
of it would be ' comfortable.' " 

" It wouldn't suit our ideas of comfort," 

replied Miss Harson, "and I am sure that 

three little people of my acquaintance, with 

i their governess, would be dreadfully seasick 

if they tried this style of riding." 

Seasick on a camel ! The little girls 
could not understand this. 

4< Of course," said Malcolm, with a know- 
ing air ; " it's a ship, you know — the ship 
of the desert." 

"It is certainly a ship in the way of sea- 
sickness, according to the experience of 
travelers when they are learning to ride. 
The reason of this is that the movement 
of the camel is entirely different from that 
of any other animal used for this purpose, 
as it moves a front leg and a hind leg 
together on one side, and then those on the 
other. This makes a lono- swincrincr motion 
which is like the pitching of a ship on the 
sea. When rising from the ground to 
begin this trot — if it can so be called — the 
animal suddenly straightens its hind legs 
first, which jerks a rider who is not pre- 



88 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

pared for this movement directly over its 
head. An English traveler says that any 
one who wishes to practice camel-riding at 
home can imitate it admirably ' by taking a 
music-stool, screwing it up as high as pos- 
sible, putting it into a cart without springs, 
sitting on the top of it cross-legged, and 
having the cart driven at full speed trans- 
versely over a newly-ploughed field/ ' 

The children laughed at this, but they 
did not seem inclined to try the experiment, 
and Miss Harson laughingly declared that 
she had no curiosity on the subject. 

" Travelers agree," continued the young 
lady, " in saying that there is as great a 
difference in the gfait of camels as in that 
of horses, but the movement even of the 
■ smooth-going ones ' is very hard at first, 
* causing the body of the rider to swing 
backward and forward as if he were rowing 
in a boat/ It makes his back ache dread- * 
fully, besides the feeling of seasickness, 
and it is so stiff the next day that he cannot 
move without suffering severely. An East- 
ern traveler says that he tried to sit up 
straight on his camel without moving, and 



WITH A HUMP. 89 

for a few moments this seemed to be a 
relief; but, getting very tired of this 
position, he next tried lying down with 
his head resting on his hand : * This last 
manoeuvre I found would not do, for the 
motion of the camel's hind legs was so 
utterly at variance with the motion of his 
fore legs that I was jerked upward and 
forward and sideways, and finally ended 
in nearly rolling off altogether. Without 
going into the details,' he adds, ' of all that 
I suffered for the next two or three days — - 
how that on several occasions I slid from 
the camel's back to the ground, in despair 
of ever accustoming my half-dislocated 
joints to the ceaseless jerking and swaying 
to and fro, and how that I often determined 
to trudge on foot over the hot, desolate 
sand all the way to Jerusalem rather than 
endure it longer — I shall merely say that 
the day did at last arrive when I descended 
from my camel, after many hours' riding, in 
as happy and comfortable a state of mind 
as if I had been lolling in the easiest of 
arm-chairs.' " 

Malcolm began to think that he would 



90 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

like to try camel-riding, after all, and his 
governess said that he should — as soon as 
he became an Eastern traveler. This did 
not seem very near, and it comforted his 
little sisters for the anxiety they were be- 
ginning- to feel on his account. 

But the boy was still interested in the 
camel as a possible steed, and, looking at a 
picture, he said, 

" How queerly his bridle is put on ! — 
right under his eyes, and not in his mouth 
at all." 

"It is not a bridle," replied Miss Harson, 
" but a nose-string, which is a rope tied like 
a halter round the muzzle, with a knot on 
the left side. The rider holds it in the left 
hand and uses it for the purpose of stop- 
ping the animal. 'The camel is guided 
partly by the voice of its rider and partly 
by a driving-stick, with which the neck is 
lightly touched on the opposite side to that 
which its rider wishes it to take. A pres- 
sure of the heel on the shoulder-bone tells 
it to quicken its pace, and a little tap on the 
head, followed by a touch on the short ears, 
is the signal for full speed.' " 



92 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"This nice camel, ,, said Clara, " in the 
picture of 'The Camel-Post,' has got a 
queer blanket on and things hanging down 
from it." 

" That is his saddle, dear, which on a 
fine camel is of rich material ornamented 
with handsome fringe and embroidery. The 
ugly hump does not show so much when it 
is covered with such a saddle." 

"What is his hump made of?" asked 
Edith. " Does it grow right out of his 
bones ?" 

" No, Edie ; it has nothing to do with the 
bones, as it seems to consist of fat, and the 
animal is supposed to absorb this fat when 
it is obliged to go a long time without food, 
as the hump is then very soft and flabby. 
When a camel is in good health and well 
cared for, this hump is high and firm ; so 
that it is easy for those who understand 
these animals to judge of their condition 
by that of the singular-looking hill on their 
backs." 

"What a funny foot the camel's got!" 
said Malcolm. " It looks like two great 
toes." 



WITH A HUMP. 93 

" That is just what it is," replied her gov- 
erness, " for it is described as ' two long 
toes resting upon a hard, elastic cushion 
with a tough and horny sole. This cushion 
is so soft that the tread of the huge animal 
is as noiseless as that of a cat, and, owing 
to the division of the toes, it spreads as the 
weight comes upon it, and thus gives a firm 
footing on loose ground. The mixed stones 
and sand of the desert would ruin the feet 
of almost any animal, and it is necessary 
that the camel should be furnished with a 
foot that cannot be split by heat like the 
hoof of a horse, that is broad enough to 
prevent the creature from sinking into the 
sand, and is tough enough to withstand the 
action of the rouo-h and burning soil.' " 

" How wonderful it seems," said Clara, 
11 that he should have just what he needs !" 

u ' His providence is over all His works' 
are words of which we are constantly re- 
minded in our studies of Nature. Nothing 
has been overlooked nor deemed too trifling 
by the great Creator in caring for his creat- 
ures, and a camel never seems to hurt its 
feet in walking over sharp stones or thorns 



94 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

or roots of trees. But whenever it happens 
on mud, where it does not belong, it seems 
incapable of walking at all. Here 'it slips 
and slides, and generally, after staggering 
about like a drunken man, falls heavily on 
its side.' Neither does it like deep, loose 
sand, but groans at every step, as it is very 
tiresome to drag its feet out of the holes 
into which they sink." 

The children thought this " very queer," 
but Miss Harson told them that there was 
something else about the camel that seemed 
still queerer. 

u This ungainly animal," she continued, 
" whose life is chiefly spent in the desert, 
where food and water are not often to be 
had, has the singular power of going with- 
out both for an almost incredible time ; and 
when water is plentiful, it will at once drink 
a great quantity that lasts for several days. 
The stomach has a number of cells, into 
which the water runs as fast as it is swal- 
lowed, and as much as twenty gallons will 
be taken at once, and disposed of afterward 
by slow degrees." 

This was certainly the strangest thing the 



96 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

children had ever yet heard about the camel, 
and now they sat waiting for fresh wonders. 

" I do not know of anything quite equal 
to that/' said the young lady, "but I think 
that the camel's food is little short of a 
marvel. The idea of its getting nourish- 
ment from thorn-bushes — thorns and all — 
is very puzzling, particularly as the thorns 
are an inch or two long and as sharp as 
thorns can be. But the animal's palate is 
hard and horny, and seems to take kindly 
to this unpromising diet. It does not mat- 
ter how dry and withered the twigs are : the 
camel enjoys them as much as some other 
animals do fresh vegetables ; and some one 
has said that this strange creature could 
thrive on the shavings of a carpenters shop." 

"I wonder if he would eat 'em?" said 
Edith, quite seriously, and Malcolm prom- 
ised h£r that as soon as he found a camel 
near a carpenter's shop he would try him 
with some shavings. 

" There is something else about these 
thorn-bushes," continued Miss Harson, 
14 which I should like to have you remem- 
ber. Owing to the great heat and dry- 



WITH A HUMP. 97 

ness of the climate where they grow, they 
blaze up in a moment, if lighted, with a roar 
and crackling, and disappear in a flash. 
The prophet Ezekiel says, ' For as the 
crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the 
laughter of a fool/ these thorns being 
used as fuel in the desert. Far back in 
the Old Testament there is an account of 
a miracle in connection w r ith one of these 
thorn-bushes. — Can you remember it, Mal- 
colm ?" 

" Was it Moses and the burning bush, 
Miss Harson ?" 

" Yes. When Moses was at the back of 
the desert w r ith his father-in-law's flock, ' the 
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a 
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush : 
and he looked, and behold, the bush burned 
with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 
And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and 
see this great sight, why the bush is not 
burnt/ It was so wonderful a thing that 
the light, dry thorn-bush should be in a 
blaze, and yet continue blazing instead of 
being reduced to ashes in a moment, that 
Moses, evidently not thinking of a miracle, 

7 



98 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

as he had not yet seen the angel, turned 
aside to find out the reason. And this 
gives us some idea of the kind of food 
that camels live on in the desert" 

"Don't the poor things have anything 
else to eat?" asked Clara, pityingly. 

" Oh yes," replied her governess ; " they 
have oats and barley when at home, and 
while traveling out of the desert they find 
a shrub called the ghada in which they par- 
ticularly delight. This bush is often six feet 
high and not unlike a small palm tree, as it 
has a feathery tuft of little green twigs 
which are very slender and flexible. No 
matter what the hurry may be, it is almost 
impossible to get a camel past one of these 
bushes until he has gnawed off the top, and 
any amount of punishment will not prevent 
him from stopping again at the very next 
ghada he sees." 

" Miss Harson," asked Edith, "what color 
are camels? Are there any white ones?" 

" Yes, dear," was the reply ; " there are 
white ones, and the color seems to vary in 
different places. Very often it is a sort of 
terra-cotta color, which, you know, is be- 



WITH A HUMP. 99 

tween red and yellow. Gray is also com- 
mon, and there are a few, but not many ? 
black ones/' 

"Where are their ears?" asked Malcolm. 
" They don't seem to have any in this pict- 
ure." 

"They do not make much show at any 
time ; and when the animal's full face is 
turned, they are scarcely visible at all. 
But, such as they are, you will find them 
in the place where ears ought to be. There 
is a legend that the camel once had very 
long ears, and, being much dissatisfied with 
its appearance, it asked for long horns too, 
to balance them. But, instead of getting 
horns, its ears were taken off almost close 
to its head." 

This sounded very funny, but it could not 
have been pleasant for the camel. 

"I wonder if little camels are pretty?" 
said Clara. 

" The young animal is described as 
almost so in comparison," replied Miss 
Harson, "but it is a funny, helpless little 
object, and at first has to be watched like a 
human baby. ' It cannot stand alone.; with- 



100 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

out help it cannot so much as take its own 
food, while its long neck is so flexible and 
fragile that, unless some one were con- 
stantly at hand to watch, the poor little 
creature would run every risk of dislocat- 
ing it/ A little camel, it seems, does not 
play and gambol like other young creat- 
ures, but is just as grave and quiet as the 
grown-up ones, and it looks as melancholy 
as though it could see all the loads it would 
have to carry during its life. At three years 
old it begins to work, and it is trained to 
kneel and bear burdens, which are made 
heavier by degrees until it is eight years 
old. A camel is then quite grown up and 
can carry all it will ever be able to bear." 



CHAPTER V. 

WHA T THE BIBLE SA VS. 

MISS HARSON had told the children 
on Sunday afternoon to look through 
their Bibles for places where camels were 
mentioned, and they produced quite a store 
of them when Monday evening came. 

Clara had found the first mention in Gen. 
xii. 1 6, where it is said of Abram that " he 
had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and 
men-servants, and she-asses, and camels." 

" Did Abraham ride on camels ?" asked 
Malcolm. 

" No doubt he did/' replied his gover- 
ness, "and one of our favorite writers says 
that 'Abram needed camels not only for 
their milk, and, for all we know, for their 
flesh, but for their valuable use as beasts 
of burden, without which he never could 
have traveled over that wild and pathless 
land/ " 

101 



102 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"Why, Miss Harson !" exclaimed Edith, 
in great surprise; " do camels give milk? 
Horses don't. ,, 

" Yes, dear; camels do give milk which is 
very valuable to the Bedouins, or people of 
the desert. It is considered better when it 
is in a curdled state than when it is fresh, 
and from it is made a kind of salt cheese 
of which travelers do not speak very highly. 
Camers-milk butter is churned in a different 
way from ours, as the milk is poured into a 
skin bag, and the bag is then beaten with a 
stick until the butter appears." 

" I shouldn't want any of that butter," 
said dainty Clara. 

" Not while you can get the golden prints 
that Kitty turns out," was the laughing re- 
ply ; "but wait till you come to travel in the 
desert, and even this not very temptingly 
made butter will seem a luxury, as it does 
to the Bedouins. — But what have you found, 
Malcolm?" 

"I've found about Rebekah at the well," 
was the somewhat disappointed reply, " but 
they're just the same old camels that Clara 
had." 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 103 

"Abram's camels, I suppose you mean ?" 
said his governess, rather gravely. " But 
that does not make them any the worse, as 
they are mentioned in another place. Tell 
us, please, where you found them. ,, 

" In Genesis, chapter twenty-four, verses 
ten, nineteen and twenty," read Malcolm 
from the list he had written. 

81 ' It was by the offering of water to these 
camels,' " said Miss Harson, "'that Rebekah 
was selected as Isaac's wife ;' and when, a 
great many years later, their son Jacob 
left his father-in-law, camels were among 
his valuable possessions, as we are told 
in the forty-third verse of the thirtieth 
chapter of Genesis." 

"I know something about Job," said 
Edith, exultingly : " he had lots of camels 
— six thousand." 

"And where does it say that, dear?" 

" In the last chapter — Clara found it for 
me — and it's the — the twelfth verse. I 
can't remember all the other things he 
had." 

" * Fourteen thousand sheep/ " read her 
governess, "'and six thousand camels, and 



104 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

a thousand yoke of oxen ' — that means two 
thousand — - and a thousand she-asses/ " 

The children looked aghast at the idea 
of all these animals, and they felt very glad 
that the beasts were not "around " at Elm- 
ridge. 

" There was plenty of room for them/' 
continued the young lady, " where land was 
so abundant and people were scarce, but 
here and now they would be rather in the 
way." 

" Here is another verse, Miss Harson," 
said Clara : " 'And he saw a chariot with a 
couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and 
a chariot of camels/ V * 

"And here is a picture of 'A Chariot of 
Camels/ See what queer-looking camels 
they are." 

" Their backs are right up in two hills/* 
said Malcolm, "and they seem to have 
hardly any heads at all." 

"These are the Bactrian, or Persian, 
camels," continued the young lady, "and 
they are generally used for drawing vehic- 
les. They are much slower animals than 

*Isa. xxi. 7. 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 105 

the Arabian camels, and seldom get on 
faster than two miles and a half in an hour. 
But they are very hardy and do not mind the 
cold, walking on ice with the greatest ease. 
They are said to climb rocks so well that 
they are even more surefooted than mules; 
and the foot of this camel has extending be- 
yond the other part a toe which forms a sort 
of claw and prevents it from slipping. It 
never requires any kind of shelter, and as 
it is left, even in the coldest kind of weather, 
to find its own food, it is not an expensive 
animal to keep. What Bible verse comes 
next?" 

•' Here is a long one," replied Malcolm : 
"'The burden of the beasts of the south: 
into the land of trouble and anguish, from 
whence come the young and old lion, the 
viper and fiery flying serpent: they will 
carry their riches upon the shoulders of 
young asses, and their treasures upon the 
bunches of camels, to a people that shall 
not profit them.' " * 

" ' Bunches,' " said Miss Harson, " means, 
of course, 'humps;' and it is surprising to 

* Isa. xxx. 6. 



106 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

find how much and what various kinds of 
things are carried upon these bunches." 

" But how does anything that isn't alive 
ever stay on?" asked Clara. "I should 
think the 'treasures' would all roll off." 

" The strangely-shaped back with a small 
mountain in the middle is provided with a 
pack-saddle which keeps the burden in its 
place, and this is the way it is managed : 'A 
narrow bag about eight feet long is made 
and rather loosely stuffed with straw or 
similar material ; it is then doubled and 
the ends are firmly sewn together, so as 
to form a great ring. This is placed over 
the hump, and makes a tolerably flat sur- 
face. A wooden framework is tied on the 
pack-saddle, and is kept in its place by a 
girth and a crupper. The packages which 
the camel is to carry are fastened together 
by cords and slung over the saddle. They 
are connected only by those semi-knots 
called * hitches/ so that when the camel is 
to be unloaded all that is needed is to pull 
the lower end of the rope, and the pack- 
ages fall on either side of the animal. So 
quickly is the operation of loading per- 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 107 

formed that two or three experienced men 
can load a camel in very little more than 
a minute/ " 

" Can a camel carry a great deal at once, 
Miss Harson ?" asked Malcolm, 

" An ordinarily large and strong one will 
carry from five to six hundred pounds on a 




short journey, and about half as much on a 
long one. There is an Eastern proverb 
which says, 'As the camel, so the load ;' 
and it is a remarkable thing about this 
animal that it knows just how much it 
can carry, and if the load is more than this 
amount it refuses to stir until it is relieved 



108 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

of the extra weight. But when properly 
started, it keeps on for hours at the same 
pace, and seems as fresh at the end of the 
journey as when it started. It objects, 
however, to being loaded at all, and does 
not resign itself to custom, like other beasts 
of burden, but growls and groans, and 
even tries to bite. * So habitual is this 
conduct that if a kneeling camel be merely 
approached and a stone as large as a wal- 
nut be laid on his back he begins to remon- 
strate in his usual manner, groaning as if he 
were crushed to the earth with his load/ ' 

"What a humbug !" exclaimed the chil- 
dren. 

"He even cries — for camels can cry — and 
it is quite affecting to see his piteous ex- 
pression and the tears streaming from his 
eyes. But the drivers do not mind these 
in the least, for they understand the animal 
and know that they are only ' crocodile • 
tears. Sometimes the camel carries huge 
panniers in which an immense number of 
things can be stowed away, and a traveler 
speaks of seeing an Arab family traveling 
in this style. ' The wife and child/ he says, 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. IO9 

1 came by in this string of camels, the former 
reclining in an immense circular box stuffed 
and padded, covered with red cotton and 
dressed with yellow worsted ornaments. 
This family nest was mounted on a large 
camel. It seemed a most commodious and 
well-arranged traveling- carriage, and very 
superior as a mode of camel-riding to that 
which our sitteen* rejoiced in, riding upon 
a saddle. The Arab wife could change her 
position at pleasure, and the child had room 
to walk about and could not fall out, the 
sides of the box just reaching to its shoul- 
ders. Various jugs and skins and articles 
of domestic use hung suspended about it, 
and trappings of fringe and finery orna- 
mented it/ 

"In the book of Judges," added the 
young lady, " it is written that when Gid- 
eon had slain the kings of Midian he ' took 
away the ornaments that were on their 
camels' necks.' -f These ornaments, with 
which wealthy riders were fond of deco- 
rating their camels, were ' like the moon,' or 
crescent-shaped, made of silver and gold, 

* Lady. f J u dg. viii. 21. 



IIO SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and would jingle at every step that was 
taken. 'The chains that were about their 
camels' necks' were so valuable that they 
were classed with the i ornaments, and col- 
lars, and purple raiment that was on the 
king of Midian.' " 

" Miss Harson," asked Clara, " is there 
anything in the Bible about the kind of 
camels that carry letters ?" 

" Yes ; ' the dromedaries of Midian and 
Ephah'* are mentioned, and in Jeremiah 
it is written, * See thy way in the valley, 
know what thou hast done : thou art a 
swift dromedary.'*}* Also in Esther we 
read that Mordecai ' sent letters and posts 
on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, 
and young dromedaries.' % You will re- 
member my telling you that dromedaries 
are the handsomest and choicest kind of 
camels, and the deloul, or post-camel, is 
the best and fastest of these dromedaries. 
With a light load the deloul will travel nine 
or ten miles an hour, while the ordinary 
camel usually makes but three miles in 
that time. It will keep this up, too, for 

* Isa. lx. 6. | Jer. ii. 23. % Esth. viii. 10. 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. Ill 

seven or eight weeks, with only a few 
days of rest. But it is very hard on the 
rider, and an Arab who can keep on a 
deloul for a whole day boasts of it as a great 
exploit. The camel-express messenger is 
well known in India ; and ' if it were not for 
his long, quick rides on a rough, jolting 
camel we might think he was the most 
comfortably situated of all the postmen 
He wears a red uniform and a large green 
turban embroidered with gold thread. From 
his belt han^s a curved sword in a red 
sheath. The camel has trappings of gay- 
cloth and tassels ornamented with blue 
beads and cowrie-shells, and small bells 
are hung around his neck. Two heavy 
mail-bags hang one on each side of the 
camel, and the saddle is arranged to carry 
a passenger behind the postman ; but few 
passengers care to travel that way, for the 
jolting of a hurrying camel is so painful 
that the poor postmen do not live very 

1 y y » 

lonpf. 

The little Kyles declared this to be a 
shame, and thought that people had better 
even do without their letters. 



112 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"It does not seem to be so bad in 
Arabia," continued their governess, "for 
there the postman prepares himself for 
his hard day's work by belting himself 
tightly with two leather bands, one just 
under his arms and the other round the 
pit of his stomach ; this prevents him from 
suffering any serious injury. But at its 
best one would not expect the office of 
camel-postman to be much in demand." 

" Miss Harson," said Malcolm, earnestly, 
"here is a verse from the New Testament 
about a camel that I do not understand a 
bit: 'Again I say unto unto you, It is easier 
for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle, than for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of God/ * Why, a camel 
couldn't even begin to go through the 
eye of a needle !" 

" I have seen a picture, though, where 
he is trying, and there is every reason to 
suppose that he will get through in time, 
and the others after him." 

The children were very much surprised 
to see in the picture in the book which 

* Matt. xix. 24. 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 1 13 

Miss Harson held a kneeling camel with 
his hump in the air and his head through 
a very small doorway, while the driver 
urged him on with a stick, and other camels, 
with their drivers, were awaiting their turn. 
Malcolm read at the bottom of the picture, 
" A Camel going through a Needle's Eye," 
and under that were the words of our 
Lord which had so puzzled him. 

" This is the description : ' In Oriental 
cities there are in the large gates small and 
very low apertures called, metaphorically, 
" needles' eyes," just as we talk of certain 
windows as " bulls' eyes." These entrances 
are too narrow for a camel to pass through 
them in the ordinary manner, or even if 
loaded. When a laden camel has to pass 
through one of these entrances, it kneels 
down, its load is removed, and then it 
shuffles through on its knees.' So, you 
see, that, although difficult for a camel to 
go through the eye of a needle, it is not 
impossible. If this is the meaning of our 
Lord's words, as some think, it is therefore 
not impossible for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of God if he will but humble 

8 



114 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

himself and cast off the burden of his 
riches." 

" I suppose, then," said Clara, " that my 
verse can be explained too : ' Ye blind 
guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow 
a camel/ " * 

"J am not surprised that you should 
wonder at it, Clara," replied her gover- 
ness, kindly, " but the expression refers 
to the custom of the Pharisees in strain- 
ing all liquids before drinking them, lest 
they might accidentally swallow some in- 
sect which by the law of Moses the Jews 
were forbidden to eat because it was ( un- 
clean/ Their actions were often so in- 
consistent with this fastidiousness or show 
of obedience to the law that our Lord re- 
buked them as straining out a gnat (as 
it is in the Revised Version), yet swallow- 
ing other things as large as a camel." 

" Thank you, Miss Harson," said Mal- 
colm. "1 had it down too, for I didn't 
understand it any better than Clara did, 
but it seems very plain now, and I'm glad 
there's so much to learn about the camel." 

* Matt, xxiii. 24. 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 115 

"I think he's ever so nice," said little 
Edith, "and I don't believe he bites much." 

Every one laughed at this charitable con- 
clusion, and • Miss Harson replied, with a 
loving caress, 

" We will believe the best we can of him, 
dear. And it is really wonderful to see in 
how many ways this great awkward animal 
is useful. — How many things do you know 
already, Clara, that he can do?" 

14 Carrying people and things," was the 
reply, "and letters, and giving milk, and — " 

But Clara could think of nothing more, 
and Malcolm asked, 

44 Do the people in the East ever eat 
camels' flesh, Miss Harson ?" 

14 Yes," replied his governess, 44 the Arabs 
consider it a great delicacy and look for- 
ward to a camel-feast as a wonderful treat. 
All Eastern nations except the Jews — to 
whom it is forbidden as ' unclean ' — eat 
camel-meat whenever they can get it ; but 
travelers describe it as tough and stringy, 
with no particular taste. The hump is 
considered the choicest part, and this is 
always given to the most important guest." 



Il6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"Is there anything else?'' asked Clara. 

" There are several things," was the re- 
ply. "You have heard of camels' hair, I 
think?" 

14 Yes," said the little girl, hesitatingly ; 
11 but does it come off camels ?" 

Miss Harson could not help smiling, 
while Malcolm laughed outright. 

" You did not expect to find it on horses 
or elephants, did you ?" asked the latter. 

" Never mind, dear," said the governess, 
kindly ; " Malcolm sometimes makes mis- 
takes too. But camels' hair really does 
come off camels, and it is put to many 
valuable uses. For one of them I should 
like to have you find the sixth verse of the 
first chapter of Mark." 

Clara read very thoughtfully : 

"'And John was clothed with camel's hair, 
and with a girdle of a skin about his loins ; 
and he did eat locusts and wild honey/' 

"The skin girdle, too, probably came 
from the camel; but the hair is very valu- 
able. At the season of the year when it 
becomes quite loose it is pulled off in tufts; 
at other times the camels are shorn like 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. \\J 

sheep. The Arab women then spin it into 
strong thread, when it is ready for weaving. 
Many different fabrics are made of it, some 
of which are very coarse and rough, like 
the ' black tents ' of the Bedouin Arabs, 
similar to those in which Abraham lived, 
and the rugs, carpets and cordage of wan- 
dering tribes. Mantles too are made of 
camel's hair, like the dress of John the 
Baptist, but they are usually very coarse. 
The best of the hair grows on the back and 
around the hump of the animal, as it is much 
longer there than on any other part. ' There 
is also a very little fine under-wool, which is 
carefully gathered ; and when a sufficient 
quantity is procured, it is spun and woven 
into garments. Shawls of this material are 
even now as valuable as those which are 
made from the Cashmere goat.'" 

" I wonder,'' said Edith, " if camels like to 
have their hair pulled out?" 

Miss Harson did not think that part of it 
was considered, but she added: 

"We must remember, Edie, that the hair 
is loose when it is pulled out, and the ani- 
mals probably do not mind it ; perhaps, too, 



Il8 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

they are glad to get rid of the hair. A 
dead camel is carefully skinned, and the 
skin is made into a sort of leather which 
furnishes its owners with sandals and leg- 
gins. Water-bottles, too, are sometimes 
made from it, and it holds liquids better 
than that of the goat. Indeed, this skin is 
used in many different ways, and, with the 
flesh and the hair, it makes the camel a 
most valuable animal to the l sons of the 
desert/ Even camel-dung has its uses, as 
it is composed chiefly of fragments of spicy 
shrubs, and in the desert it is burned for 
fuel. After being mixed with bits of straw 
it is dried in the sun, and can then be kept 
until it is needed for use. 'Mixed with clay 
and straw, it is most valuable as a kind of 
mortar or cement with which the walls of 
huts are rendered weatherproof, and the 
same material is used in the better-class 
houses to make a sort of terrace on the 
flat roof. This must be waterproof in 
order to withstand the wet of the rainy 
season, and no other material answers the 
purpose so well. So strangely hard and 
firm is this composition that stoves are 



WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. IJ9 

made of it. These stoves are made like 
jars, and have the faculty of resisting the 
power of the enclosed fire. Even after it 
is burned it has its uses, the ashes being 
employed in the manufacture of sal-am- 



moniac/ ' 



"Well," said Malcolm, "that must be a 
queer country to live in, and the camel's a 
queerer animal than I thought it was." 

" Don't camels cost a great deal, Miss 
Harson ?" asked Clara. 

" No," was the reply ; " nothing costs a 
great deal in that region, and a very good 
ordinary camel can be bought for a few 
dollars. The finest kind of dromedary is, 
of course, more expensive. And this re- 
minds me of a camel-market in Tartary 
where immense numbers of these animals 
are bought and sold. ' In the centre of the 
town, it seems, there is a large square where 
the animals are ranged in long- rows to- 
gether, their front feet raised upon mud 
elevations constructed expressly for the 
purpose, the object of which is to show 
off the size and height of the ungainly 
creatures. The confusion and noise of 



120 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

this market are said to be something fright- 
ful and indescribable, with the continua. 
chattering of the buyers and sellers dis- 
puting noisily over their bargains, in ad- 
dition to the wild shrieking of the camels, 
whose noses are pulled roughly to make 
them show off their agility in rising and 
kneeling.' " 

" Does a camel really shriek, Miss Har- 
son ?" asked Edith, who was more and 
more surprised at the accounts of this 
remarkable animal. 

" Yes, Edie ; travelers speak of its * pro- 
longed, piercing cry ' as something very un- 
pleasant, and ' the air of Blue Town/ where 
the camel-market is, ' is made hideous with 
the shrieking of the camels, as, to test their 
strength, they are made to kneel while one 
thing after another is piled on their backs, 
and made to rise under each new burden 
until they can rise no longer. Sometimes, 
while the camel is kneeling, a man gets 
upon its hind heels and holds on by the 
long hair of its hump ; if the camel can rise 
then, it is considered an animal of superior 
power/ " 









WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. 121 

"Well, I should think so !" exclaimed 
Malcolm. " But what cruel creatures those 
camel-men must be !" 

"I am afraid that cruelty is not confined 
to them," was the reply. "And just look at 
that clock ! Unless I send you all to bed 
at once, I shall deserve to be fined by the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children." 



CHAPTER VI. 

MORE ABOUT CAMELS. 

THE little Kyles were much like other 
children in never wanting to go to 
bed, no matter how sleepy they were, and 
it was very hard indeed to leave " those 
delightful camels/' with which they were 
perfectly fascinated, and promptly obey 
their governess. But, besides their love 
for Miss Harson, they knew that unless they 
did obey there would be no more camels, 
and it was not half so interesting to read 
about them themselves. 

Edith dreamed that night that a great 
camel was running- after her and shrieking 
as loud as he could ; but when Miss Har- 
son came up and asked him if he were not 
ashamed of himself to tease a little girl, he 
looked very silly and scampered out of 
sight. They were all much amused at this 
dream, and Miss Harson said that Edie 
122 



124 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

must not dwell so much upon what was 
disagreeable or alarming in their talks 
about animals, because they were quite 
safe from them, and these things could 
not be avoided in order to understand how 
these creatures differed from one another. 
Miss Harson told them of a visit that she 
had paid when she was quite a young girl 
to a menagerie, where she saw several chil- 
dren riding upon a camel, and this pleased 
the little Kyles very much. 

"Now," continued the young lady, "I 
wish to tell you of an important use to 
which the camel is put, but it is one which 
I hope you will never be obliged to try. I 
have spoken of its singular stomach with 
cells in it where water can be kept for a 
long time, and ■ this curious power of the 
camel has often proved to be the salvation 
of its owner. It has happened that when 
travelers have been passing over the desert 
their supply of water has been exhausted, 
partly by the travelers and partly by the 
burning heat, which causes it to evaporate 
through the pores of the goatskin bottle 
in which it was carried. Then the next 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. 1 25 

well, where they had intended to refill 
their skins and refresh themselves, has 
proved dry, and all the party has seemed 
doomed to die of thirst. In these circum- 
stances only one chance of escape is left 
them : they kill a camel, and from its stom- 
ach they procure water enough to sustain 
life for a little longer, and perhaps to 
enable them to reach a well or a fountain 
in which water still remains. The water 
which is thus obtained is unaltered except 
by a greenish hue, the result of mixing with 
the remains of herbage in the cells. It is, 
of course, very disagreeable, but those who 
are dying from thirst cannot afford to be 
fastidious, and to them the water is a most 
delicious draught/ " 

" Ugh !" said Clara, with such s. disgusted 
face ; " I'd rather die of thirst than drink 
that water." 

" You may think so now," was the reply ; 
" but if the danger were really before you, 
you would change your mind. The muddy 
pools which are called 'fountains' in the 
desert are much worse than this greenish 
water from the camel's stomach, which, after 



12.6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS, 

being kept for a few days, becomes quite 
fresh and clear. Another wonderful thing 
about the camel is that when it needs water 
it can scent it at such a distance that its 
rider has sometimes given up all hope of 
being saved from a dreadful death by thirst, 
when off would go the animal at full speed 
in a certain direction, until he stopped beside 
a desert spring that seemed to the fainting 
man a miracle from heaven. A sacred 
fountain at Mecca was first discovered by 
two thirsty camels. " 

" I thought that camels didn't need water 
as horses do?" said Malcolm. 

" They do not need to drink water so oft- 
en as horses and other animals do, because 
they can take in a supply that will last for 
some time ; but they require a great deal of 
water, and they suffer as much as any other 
creature when the supply is exhausted. A 
thirsty camel is utterly unmanageable, and 
will not heed driver or rider when plung- 
ing madly after a fancied scent of water. 
But it is not often deceived ; and when it 
has gained its object, great is the rejoicing 
among the exhausted travelers." 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. \2J 

" Is the camel a wild animal, Miss Har- 
son ?" asked Malcolm. " I mean is it ever 
wild ?" 

" No," replied his governess ; " it is pecu- 
liar in this respect. There are wild horses 
and asses and goats, even sheep and oxen, 
but a wild camel has never been found. 
Yet it is often the least tame and the most 
wicked of all domestic animals." 

"Is it really wicked?" said Edith, in dis- 
may. 

" ' Ugly ' would perhaps describe it better. 
But it has shown itself to be revengeful as 
well as bad-tempered. Its stupidity is often 
mentioned, and it shows this in its habit of 
plodding straight on, no matter how it is 
loaded or what may happen to be in the 
way. 'As it passes through the narrow 
streets of an Oriental city, laden with 
goods that project on either side and 
nearly fill up the thoroughfare, it causes 
singular inconvenience, forcing every one 
who is in front of it to press himself closely 
to the wall and to make way for the enor- 
mous beast as it plods along. The driver 
or rider generally gives notice by contin- 



128 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ually calling to the pedestrians to get out 
of the way, but a laden camel rarely 
passes through a long street without hav- 
ing knocked down a man or two or driven 
before it a few riders on asses who cannot 
pass between the camel and the wall. One 
source of danger to its rider is to be found 
in the low archways which span so many of 
the streets. They are just high enough to 
permit a laden camel to pass under them, 
but are so low that they leave no room for 
a rider. The natives, who are accustomed 
to this style of architecture, are always 
ready for an archway ; and when the rider 
sees one which will not allow him to retain 
his seat, he slips to the ground, and re- 
mounts on the other side of the obstacle.' 
But strangers are not apt to be so fortunate, 
and one traveler had a very narrow escape. 
After passing one or two of these archways 
by bending his head forward, he was talking 
to one of the party behind him, without 
thinking of what might be before him, 
when suddenly he noticed a shouting and 
running of the people in the street, and 
found, to his horror, that the camel was 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. I 29 

just beginning to pass through a gateway. 
It could not be stopped now, and its rider 
could only throw himself back as far as pos- 
sible, with a feeling almost of certainty that 
he would never get through alive. His shirt- 
studs scraped upon the stone-work above, 
but he was mercifully preserved, almost 
breathless, yet alive. He says, though, 
1 If there had been a single projecting stone 
to stop my progress, the camel would have 
struggled to get free, and my chest must 
have been crushed in.' " 

11 — h !" said the children, drawing a 
long breath of relief, as if they had just 
come from under an archway. "Wasn't 
that dreadful?" 

" It certainly was, and it seems a pity that 
the camel has not sense enough to stop 
when it comes to such a place. But it 
appears very indifferent to its rider ; and 
should the latter slip from its back in the 
desert, it will plod on the same as ever. 
It can seldom find its way home when it 
strays off anywhere, but it does not seem 
to care in the least whether it is with its 
old master or a new one." 



I30 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" Doesn't the camel ever love any one ?" 
asked Clara. 

" Not very often, I think, but it has been 
known to hate people very vigorously. The 
camel is described as ill-tempered and re- 
vengeful, and there is a story told of one 
who had been unmercifully whipped by his 
driver. The man saw from the expression 
of the animal's eye that he deeply resented 
this treatment and only waited his oppor- 
tunity for revenge ; he therefore watched 
him constantly. One night, after retiring 
inside his tent, he left his striped cloak out- 
side spread over the camel's wooden sad- 
dle ; and this is what happened : * During 
the night he heard the camel approach the 
object, and after satisfying himself, by smell 
or otherwise, that it was his master's cloak 
and believing that the man was asleep be- 
neath it, he lay down and rolled backward 
and forward over the cloak, evidently much 
gratified by the crackling and smashing of 
the saddle under his weight, and fully per- 
suaded that the bones of his master were 
broken to pieces. After a time he rose, 
contemplated with great contentment the 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. 131 

disordered mass, still covered by the cloak, 
and retired. Next morning, at the usual 
hour for loading, the master, who from the 
interior of his tent had heard this agreeable 
process going on, presented himself to the 
camel. The disappointed animal was in such 
a rage on seeing his master safe before him 
that he broke his heart and died on the spot/ 

" This is an Arab story," added Miss 
Harson, " and it may not be true. Yet, 
from what I have read of this animal, I 
think that it might be. The cruel driver 
certainly deserved to lose his camel for 
treating him so barbarously, and he had a 
narrow escape in getting off with his own 
life." 

"I wonder," said Malcolm, "if camels are 
so ill-natured and bad-tempered, that they 
ever let people lead them or do anything 
that they do not like." 

"They would not, I suppose, if they were 
ever free," replied his governess, "but they 
are born in a state of submission, and they 
have never seen one of their kind going 
about as it chose. A traveler says that 
1 while being laden camels testify their dislike 



132 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

to any packet which looks unsatisfactory 
in point of size or weight as it is carried 
past them, though when it is once on their 
backs they continue to bear it with the pa- 
tient expression of countenance which, I 
fear, passes for more than it is worth.' ' 

"What funny creatures they are!" said 
Clara. " Do their masters always treat them 
as badly as that driver treated his camel, 
Miss Harson ?" 

" Not always ; sometimes they are very 
kind to them, but this kindness cannot be 
depended on. They will overload and over- 
drive them, and yet they look upon them as 
their most valuable possessions, often talk- 
ing to them and encouraging them on their 
journeys, and about the middle of the day 
they will begin singing to them, and keep it 
up for hours without stopping." 

"What do they sing?" asked Edith. 
"And do the camels like it?" 

" They sing endless verses like this, dear, 
and the camels are delighted, for they are 
said to be ' greatly taken with music and 
melody.' The camels' bells tinkle while the 
Bedouin sings : 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. I 33 

u ' Dear unto 111c as the sight of mine eyes 

Art thou, my camel ! 
Precious to me as the health of my life 

Art thou, my camel ! 
Sweet to my ears is the sound 

Of thy tinkling bells, O my camel ! 
And sweet to thy listening ears 

Is the sound of my evening-song. ' " 

"That is a very funny song," said Mal- 
colm; " nothing seems to rhyme." 

"It probably rhymes in Arabic," was the 
reply, "and probably, too, the camels are not 
particular about the rhyme, but they cer- 
tainly seem to enjoy the singing/' 

The children thought this " very queer," 
but Miss Harson continued: 

"A great many animals like music, and 
I have read lately of an unruly cow that 
allowed herself to be milked, and of a wild 
horse who would permit the groom to catch 
him by being drawn near the open parlor 
window where a lady played on the piano. 
The horse could be coaxed only by tender, sad 
things, while the cow liked martial music." 

"What next?" thought the children, in 
amazement. 

"It seems," said their governess, pres 



134 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ently, " that camels ' are fond of kneeling 
at night just behind the ring of Arabs who 
squat around the fire, and they stretch their 
heads over their masters' shoulders to snuff 
up the heat and the smoke, which seem great- 
ly to content them.' Neither do they feed 
entirely upon thorns, for an Eastern trav- 
eler encountered a respectable driver who 
had driven three camels in the caravan, and 
he says it was amusing to see his prepa- 
rations for their evening's entertainment. 
The tablecloth — a circular piece of leather 
- — was duly spread on the ground ; on this 
he poured the quantity of dourrah destined 
for their meal, and, calling his camels, they 
came and took each its place at the feast. 
It is quaint to see how each in its turn eats, 
so gravely and so quietly, stretching his 
long neck into the middle of the heap, then 
raising his head to masticate each mouthful 
— all so slowly and with such gusto.' " 

" I am glad they do get something to eat 
sometimes," said Clara, " and I dare say 
that if people would be good to them 
they'd be very nice animals." 

" Kindness will certainly do wonders," 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. I 35 

replied Miss Harson ; " yet I doubt if we 
should ever think the camel ' very nice/ 
because he seems to have no power of 
loving. But I have been expecting some 
one to ask me a question." 

11 I will ask it, then/' said Malcolm, 
promptly. " Are you going to give us a 
story, Miss Harson ?" 

"No," replied his governess, laughing; 
" that was not at all what I meant. Why 
has no one asked me what dourrah is?" 

Edith hastened to say, 

" Why, I meant to, Miss Harson, and 
then I forgot it." 

"Then I will tell you without your ask- 
ing, Edie. Dourrah is a species of grain that 
is cultivated by the Arabs, and with camels 
it takes the place of oats. I think, now, 
that we have studied the subject quite 
thoroughly, and it is time to look around 
for another beast of burden." 

"Are not we to have a story?" asked 
Clara, in a beseeching tone. 

" I do not know, dear, of any particular 
camel-story," said Miss Harson. "There 
are one or two fables in which this animal 



136 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

figures, and the first is quite characteristic 
— if not of the camel, at least of the camel- 
driver. An Arab had loaded his camel, as 
usual, with as much as the poor beast could 
well stagger under, and had — not as usual 
— asked him whether he preferred going 
up hill or down. But the camel's reply 
had nothing to do with hills. ' Pray, mas- 
ter,' said he, significantly, ' what has become 
of the straight way across the plain ?" 

" Good for the camel !" said Malcolm, 
approvingly. 

" And what did the other one do ?" asked 
Edith, eagerly ; for Miss Harson said " one 
or two fables," and the little girl had no 
idea of being put off with the smaller 
number. 

The governess laughed as she pinched 
Edith's rosy cheek, and continued: 

"Well, little girl, 'the other one' did 
something not very different from the con- 
duct of the donkey who wanted to be a 
lap-dog. He went, it seems, to an enter- 
tainment at which the various animals were 
present, and a graceful monkey entertained 
the company with his dancing. He was 



MORE ABOUT CAMELS. I 37 

highly applauded, and received so much 
attention on account of his accomplishment 
that the camel, imagining that he could do 
it just as well, suddenly jumped up and 
began to dance too. But his awkward 
antics were so utterly absurd that the 
assembly burst out laughing, and ended by 
driving him out of the place. The moral 
of this is, Do not in public attempt a 
thing which you are not quite sure of being 
able to do well." 



CHAPTER VII. 

TO THE NORTH POLE. 

TO-DAY/' said Miss Harson to her 
little flock, " we are going to take a 
wonderful jump in countries — from what 
may be called the region of perpetual heat, 
where our friend with the hump flourishes, 
to the region of almost perpetual cold near 
the north pole. What animal do we find 
here that is quite as useful to the people 
of cold countries as the camel is to the 
Eastern nations ?" 

Three young heads were busily think- 
ing, and presently Malcolm said, 

" Isn't it the reindeer, Miss Harson ?" 
"I think it must be," was the smiling 
reply, "and I have found a great deal that 
is interesting about this Arctic horse, and 
also about the curious people to whom he 
is so valuable. We shall certainly enjoy 
becoming acquainted with them." 

138 



TO THE NOR TH POLE. 



I 39 



The children were quite prepared in 
advance to be delighted ; and when they 
saw the picture which their governess 
showed them of a reindeer, they studied 
it with great interest. 




REINDEER. 



"I think," said Clara, taking a side-view 
of the animal, " that it looks a little like a 
cow/' 

Malcolm seemed wonderfully amused at 
this idea, and Edith mildly suggested that 
"cows didn't have such queer horns." 

* Well, they look just stuck on after- 
ward," persisted Clara, "and I do think it's 



140 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

face is like a cow's. — -Isn't it, Miss Har- 
son ? 

" It certainly has something of that look," 
was the reply, " and reindeer seem to me 
like animals that are about two-thirds deer 
and one-third cow. But in their activity 
and restlessness they are all deer, yet they 
are the only species of that wild family that 
have ever been turned into domestic ani- 
mals." 

"Are the reindeer wild too?" asked Mal- 
colm. 

"Yes; they were all originally wild, but 
many of them are now born in captivity, 
as a well-to-do Laplander has large herds 
of these animals. Wild ones are still 
caught and trained, but neither the catch- 
ing nor the training is at all easy. They 
are caught with a lasso, as wild horses on 
the plains are, and they object quite as 
much to being- caught. The lasso is often 
thrown to a distance of thirty or forty feet, 
and the would-be capturer is frequently him- 
self thrown to the ground in the strug- 
gle. As the reindeer runs, hoping to es- 
cape, the lasso draws tighter and tighter, 



TO THE NORTH POLE. 141 

until at last he falls completely entangled 
in the toils prepared for him. He is then 
taken to his master's hut or farm, as the 
case may be, but he is a very uneasy prize, 
and it requires much patience and perse- 
verance to train him and make him con- 
tented with his new quarters." 

"I should think he'd break loose and run 
away," said Malcolm, " where he could have 
a much better time." 

"That is the trouble, for he does not 
want to work nor to feel that he cannot go 
just where and when he pleases. Rein- 
deer are allowed a great deal of liberty 
and are seldom locked up in stables, as 
they much prefer sleeping outside in the 
cold. After a reindeer is caught it takes 
a long time — about two years — to train 
it to be of any use, and it must have a 
lesson every day. While under training 
the animals are fed with salt and angelica, 
and are well treated in every way." 

" Miss Harson," said Clara, remembering 
the dourrah, " what is 'angelica ' ?" 

"It is a plant," replied her governess, 
smiling at her pupil's prompt question, 



142 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"the stalks of which are not unlike those 
of rhubarb. It appears to be used as a 
vegetable, and I have seen the stalks at 
the confectioner's in a candied state, like 
ginger, and of a delicate green color." 

Anything that could be made into candy 
was especially interesting, and Miss Har- 
son was eagerly asked how it tasted and 
if it were not possible for the youthful 
Elmridgers to find this out from actual 
experience. 

"I remember once tasting a piece," said 
the young lady, "and I did not think it had 
much taste of any kind. But I will see 
that there is some angelica in the next box 
of candy that finds its way to Elmridge." 

Boxes of candy did not find their way 
there very often, for neither papa nor Miss 
Harson thought candy desirable for a 
steady diet, but they were sure to appear 
at Christmastide and other extra seasons, 
and the children now felt quite satisfied 
with their prospects for knowing just how 
angelica tastes. 

" Now," continued Miss Harson, "we 
will return to the reindeer, which we have 



TO THE NORTH POLE. 1 43 

rather neglected because he could not be 
made into candy, like angelica." 

A merry burst of laughter rang out at 
the idea, and there seemed to be no getting 
back to the proper subject. 

" 4 Two men/ says an Arctic traveler, 
'came into camp with a young reindeer, 
and soon afterward the work of teaching 
him to draw a sleigh began. A long and 
very strong leather rein was attached to 
the base of his horns, and the rest of the 
harness was carefully attended to. The 
trace attached to the sleigh was several 
yards in length, the trainer himself being 
at quite a distance, thus placing the animal 
and the sleigh far apart. As soon as the 
reindeer w r as urged forward he plunged 
and kicked wildly, and it required all the 
strength of the man to hold him. After re- 
peated rests for the animal and the driver, 
the lesson was recommenced, and continued 
until the man became utterly exhausted/ M 

" Does just one reindeer draw a sleigh ?" 
asked Edith. 

"Very often, dear," was the reply, " for 
the Arctic sleighs are quite different from 



144 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ours, and one of them does not appear too 
much of a load for one such animal. These 
vehicles are very light and only about six 
feet long, and they have been described as 
looking like half of an Indian canoe that 
had been cut in two in the middle. The 
sleigh has a keel like a boat ; and the high- 
er this is, the quicker it can travel through 
the snow. There are various kinds of 
these sleighs, some being used for carry- 
ing goods and provisions of all kinds, and 
these have their tops covered, while others 
are more elegant, being partly covered and 
having cushioned backs. The latter can be 
drawn rapidly, but all of them hold but one 
person and are drawn by one reindeer." 

" That is not nice a bit, ''said Clara — " to 
go out sleighriding alone." 

" The Laplanders do not seem to agree 
with you," said Miss Harson, " but I do not 
suppose that they ever think of such a 
thing as taking a sleighride merely for the 
pleasure of it. Travelers say that it is very 
difficult for those who are not used to them 
to keep in these sleighs, and there is always 
danger of being upset. ' You must make 



TO THE NORTH POLE, 145 

up your mind,' says one who has tried it, 

I to be upset a great many times before you 
learn to drive reindeer/ The most dan- 
gerous time is in going down a steep hill, 
as then the sleigh goes faster than the rein- 
deer, fast as he is, and it is very hard to bal- 
ance one's self and keep the vehicle from 
upsetting. The reindeer always quickens 
his pace in going down hill and carries his 
neck forward. ' I could hear all the time,' 
said the same traveler, ' a sound as if two 
pieces of wood were knocking against 
each other : this was produced by the feet. 
Every time the hoof touched the snow it 
spread open, and as it was raised the two 
sides were brought together again. Going- 
down hill the pace was so rapid that the 
animals' feet seemed hardly to touch the 
snowy ground ; they knew that if they did 
not go fast enough xhzpulka (sleigh) would 
strike against their legs.' " 

"That is like coasting," said Malcolm; 

II it must be splendid. The boys in Lap- 
land have fine times." 

"I do not think we should consider them 
'fine times' for any one. How would you 
10 



I46 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

like, for instance, to live in a tent all the 
time ?" 

" Why, that would be fun, Miss Harson." 

" For a month or so, perhaps ; but sup- 
pose that you had a great herd of reindeer 
to watch, and that they were your only 
means of support, and you had to keep mov- 
ing constantly in whatever direction they 
could find moss after they had eaten it all 
up in the last place ? You would not find 
it very funny ; and the inside of one of 
these tents is not a pleasant residence for 
those who are accustomed to nice houses." 

" Our tent that papa had put up for us is 
nice," said Edith, "but I shouldn't want to 
live in it all the time." 

"You could not have your cabinet of 
minerals in a tent, Malcolm/' said Clara, 
who appeared to think there was danger 
that her brother might leave them all to go 
and live in a tent in Lapland. 

Malcolm thought a great deal of his min- 
erals, which he had collected with much 
care, and papa had presented him on his 
last birthday with a pretty cabinet to keep 
them in. The young gentleman's own 



TO THE NORTH POLE, 1 47 

room was quite luxurious, and not exactly 
like that of a person who would take kindly 
to living in a tent ; besides his cabinet of 
minerals, he had a printing-press, a photo- 
graph-apparatus, and almost everything a 
boy of his age would be likely to enjoy. 

"What do they live in tents for?" he 
asked, presently, referring to the Lapps, 
and not to the reindeer. " Should think 
they'd freeze." 

" They live in tents," replied his gover- 
ness, " because these light dwellings are 
more easily moved than houses. But I 
think I must tell you something about these 
curious people that you may understand 
how valuable the reindeer is to them. They 
are very short people, the tallest of the men 
measuring scarcely over five feet." 

"Ho!" exclaimed Malcolm, scornfully; 
" I'm as tall as that." 

" You would make quite an important- 
looking Lapp man," said Miss Harson, 
smiling, " and Clara would make a short 
Lapp woman. You see that these people 
are well suited to living in tents. They 
have short round faces and high cheek- 



I48 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

bones; men as well as women wear long 
hair." 

"What funny-looking little things they 
must be!" said Clara. "What kind of 
clothes do they wear, Miss Harson ?" 

" In winter they dress much more warmly 
than we do, and a full suit is made of deer- 
skin, the coat reaching nearly to the knees 
and being fastened round the waist by a 
broad belt ; the hair is left on these skins 
and turned inside for warmth. For shoes 
they make a pair of high moccasins from the 
skin which covers the legs of the deer, be- 
cause the hair of that portion is short and 
firm and wears better than any other part. 
These shoes are often ornamented, and they 
are generally worn very large ; so that the 
Lapps can wrap their feet in a layer of 
dried grass, which is found in most of 
them." 

" I should think it would feel horrid," said 
Malcolm. " We could not walk with dried 
grass in our shoes. " 

"' It reminds me of a queer little girl I 
used to go to school with," continued his 
governess, " who often appeared in slippers 




LAPLANDERS. 



I50 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

that were much too long for her and had 
the toes stuffed with cotton." 

"Did she come from Lapland?" asked 
Edith. 

" No, dear," was the laughing reply, 
"and, although she had cotton in the toes 
of her slippers, I am quite sure that she 
never had any dried grass. These Lapp 
men wear cloth and fur caps of a very pe- 
culiar shape, having a broad band around 
the forehead and a large square crown with 
small tassels fastened to the corners. The 
women are dressed very much like the men, 
and in summer both wear a long woolen 
garment, with leggins and shoes of rein- 
deer leather." 

The children thought this a hot dress for 
summer, but Miss Harson explained to 
them that summer in Lapland is a differ- 
ent thing from summer in the temperate 
zone. 

"The Lapps do not have many suits of 
clothes at a time," continued the young lady, 
" as they are very seldom changed ; so they 
do not need closets and bureaus, and other 
conveniences which take up room in a 



TO THE NORTH POLE. 151 

house. It is quite puzzling, though, how 
they manage to get all the family belong- 
ings, besides the people, into a tent, for these 
dwellings are very small. They look like 
Indian wigwams, and have a hole in the top 
to let out the smoke. Wood is scarce, 
and the fire is often made of juniper- 
branches. " 

"What do they make the tents of?" 
asked Malcolm. " I suppose reindeer-skin 
is what they use." 

" Not right this time, Malcolm, although 
I should probably have said ■ reindeer-skin ' 
myself had I not been reading a descrip- 
tion of these tents, which you shall hear:" 

"'The tent used by the Laplanders is 
portable, and is conveyed from place to 
place by the reindeer. Its frame is com- 
posed of poles fitting into one another, 
easily put together, and so strong and well 
knit that they can resist the pressure of the 
heaviest storm: a cross-pole, high up, sus- 
tains an iron chain, at the end of which is 
a hook to hold the kettles. Over the frame 
is drawn a cloth of coarse wool, called bad- 
mal, made by themselves, no skins being 



152 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ever used ; it is composed of two pieces, 
and is made fast by strings and pins and 
well secured. The porous quality of the 
cloth permits a partial circulation of air. A 
small door made of canvas is suspended at 
the top of the entrance. The woolen cloth 
is exceedingly durable, often lasting more 
than twenty years. The tents are fre- 
quently much patched, for a new covering 
costs from thirty to forty dollars. In sum- 
mer these tents are usually pitched near a 
spring or stream of water where the dwarf- 
birch and juniper furnish fuel, and not far 
distant from good pasture. This is tailed an 
encampment, and it is the kind of house in 
which live the mountain or nomad Lapps, 
who wander with their reindeer from pas- 
ture to pasture all the year round. The 
sea Lapps, who live along the wild coasts 
and get their living by codfishing and act- 
ing as sailors to the Norwegians, live in 
queer-looking mounds of earth with holes 
in the top. Better dwellings are shaped 
like houses and built of turf, having some- 
times walls of stone to protect the turf and 
make the houses stronger. Some which 



TO THE NORTH POLE. 1 53 

are considered to be very grand residences 
are built of logs. 

" The forest Lapps, who live in the woods, 
seem to fancy very queer-shaped houses. 
In some districts the lower part is square, 
built of three or four logs joined together, 
the upper portion being pyramidal, of split 
trees covered with birch bark, over which 
boards are put. A large flat stone is in the 
middle for fire, at the place where the cook- 
ing is done. There is the usual hole in the 
centre for the escape of smoke. In some 
houses the floor is covered with stone slabs, 
in others with young branches of birch, and, 
as in the tent, skins are spread for the fam- 
ily to sleep upon. Near the dwellings are 
large enclosures where at a certain season 
of the year the reindeer are penned every 
day. Many of the forest Lapps own exten- 
sive herds. The farming Lapps, whose 
dwellings resemble those of the forest 
Lapps, generally live together in small 
hamlets on the shores of rivers or lakes. 
A church, a parsonage and a schoolhouse 
are always to be seen in one of these set- 
tlements, and many of the Lapps are very 



154 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

religious people. They are always kind to 
strangers, and will take them in and give 
them food and shelter at any hour of the 
night, although wakened from a sound 
sleep to do so." 

•'Then they are not heathens at all?" ex- 
claimed Clara, in surprise. 

"No, dear," replied her governess; " they 
are generally very good little people, and 
are honest, peaceable and generous. Many 
of their customs would seem strange to us, 
and not altogether pleasant. A traveler 
among them says that * the rich man lives 
in the like smoky and filthy hut as the 
poor man, only it is larger, because it must 
be, to accommodate his larger family ; for 
his servants or herders are strictly members 
of his family and live on an apparent equal- 
ity with himself. The great kettle is hung 
over the fire in the middle of the hut and 
filled with the flesh of the reindeer ; and 
when it is boiled, all go and help them- 
selves alike, with fingers or sticks or with 
forks and spoons made of the bones or 
antlers of the deer, or their sheath-knives, 
which always hang at the hip of young and 




LAPLANDER AND HIS FAMILY. 



156 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

old. All sleep together in the hut on the 
pallets of deerskins wherever they can find 
room/ " 

Clara and Edith were quite sure that they 
didn't wish to go among the Lapps, but 
Malcolm still thought it would be "fun." 

" The only difference between rich and 
poor seems to be that the wealthy man will 
own many thousand reindeer, while a poor 
man may have but two or three. Many 
things are paid for in this rather clumsy 
coin, and a good servant receives from three 
to six reindeer for a year's work. The Lapp 
women are industrious and make all the 
clothing for the family. This must be hard 
work, as skins are not easy to sew, and the 
only thread they have is made from deer- 
sinews. They weave all the cloth, and also 
embroider on cloth and leather. The men, 
too, are constantly busy watching the rein- 
deer, who will scatter in all directions if 
they are frightened, and with wolves always 
watching, too, it is necessary to be contin- 
ually on the lookout. ' If the wolves are 
not hungry, they will not dare to come 
near; but if in want of food, they will at- 



TO THE NORTH POLE. 1 57 

tack a herd in spite of all precautions. 
Often the deer by the sense of smell detect 
the approach of their enemies ; in that case 
the herd moves away. The Laplanders 
then know what to expect, and with their 
dogs pursue the wolves, keeping the deer 
together at the same time.' M 

The children were all surprised to hear 
of any dogs in Lapland. 

11 What kind of dogs are they, Miss Har- 
son ?" asked Malcolm. " Do they look like 
ours ?" 

"They are not large," was the reply, 
11 and they do not look much like our dogs. 
They have long, thick hair, and some of 
them resemble small bears, being of a 
dark-brown color and without tails. ' It is 
wonderful to see how these dogs can keep 
a flock of reindeer together ; occasionally, 
for some unknown reason, a panic seizes a 
herd, and it takes all their cunning and a 
great deal of running to prevent the deer 
from scattering in all directions. These 
dogs are the useful friends of the Lapland- 
ers. In order to keep them hardy, strong 
and healthy, they are treated roughly, 



158 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

are never overfed, and are not allowed to 
rest till their owner does ; indeed, they 
often seem to get only the food they can 
steal. Every man, woman, grown child 
and maid-servant has his or her own dogs, 
which obey and listen only to the voice of 
their owner. They are exceedingly brave, 
and not afraid of wolves and bears, which 
they attack without fear, but with great 
cunning, taking care not to be bitten by 
them and choosing their time and place to 
bite.' " 






CHAPTER VIII. 



REINDEER WAYS. 




M 



ISS HARSON," 

asked Edith, "are 
there any little babies in 
Lapland ?" 

11 Why, yes, dear," re- 
plied hergoverness, laugh- 
ing ; " there are babies 
wherever there are peo- 
ple, and the Lapp babies 
are very funny. The cra- 
dle, which is hung up, 
looks much like a big 
slipper ; and when the baby is laid in it, his 
clothes are all taken off and he is covered 
with a sheet, a piece of coarse cloth and a 
sheepskin quilt. There are holes on each 
side of the cradle, and through these a 



A QUEER CRADLE. 



stout cord is laced across to 



keep 

159 



the 



l6o SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

covers from falling off and the child from 
tumbling out." 

This did not sound like a pleasant way 
of sleeping, but a Lapp baby, Miss Harson 
said, never knows anything better. 

" When the Lapps are traveling from 
place to place,'' continued the young lady, 
" these cradles — -which are about two and a 
half feet long and half a yard wide — are 
slung on the mothers' shoulders and go 
through some dreadful storms and snow- 
drifts. The baby-reindeer are always car- 
ried, too, or put in a sleigh; and when 
their mother calls them, they give a queer 
kind of grunt, which the young ones an- 
swer." 

The children thought it funny to carry 
little animals or take them sleighriding, and 
they had a great many questions to ask 
about the baby- reindeer. 

" Their color," replied Miss Harson, " is 
at first nearly white, but it gets darker 
until they are fully grown. The old ones 
are gray, with coarse, thick hair nearly two 
inches lone, but it is longer and thicker in 
winter than in summer. This hair is much 






REINDEER WAYS. l6l 

darker on the back and almost white un- 
derneath. The reindeers horns are branch- 
ing, like great pieces of seaweed, and the 
reindeer itself is a clumsy-looking animal 
with stout legs and very broad hoofs. 
* The animals are never housed, for they 
like cold weather and snow. Food is never 
given them, and unless brought up to do 
so they will not touch the moss that has 
been gathered. They often will not even 
raise their heads as you approach them, 
and remain quiet when the Lapps pitch 
their tents. Some years prove unfavorable 
to their increase, on account of the amount 
of snow, which prevents them from digging 
for food ; the herd then becomes weak and 
emaciated, and many die. The spring also 
is a bad time for them ; the snow melts 
during the day and a thick crust forms at 
night, so that their feet break through, 
causing lameness and disease. The horns 
of the males, which often weigh forty 
pounds, attain their full size at the age of 
five or six years ; those of the cow, at 
about four years. After the age of eight 
years the branches gradually drop off. 
11 



1 62 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

The shoulder-blades appear a little high, 
occasioning a slight hump or protuberance. 
Without the reindeer the Laplander could 
not exist in those northern regions ; it is 
his horse, his beast of burden, his food, 
his clothing, his shoes and his gloves.' ' 

" It is queer about horns,'' said Clara. 
"I can't think how they grow. What 
makes 'em, Miss Harson ?" 

"They certainly are singular ornaments," 
replied her governess, " as they do not take 
the place of ears, and seem to be of no use 
whatever except as weapons of defence. 
What is still more strange about the rein- 
deer, the does, or she-deer, have antlers 
as well as the stags, although of smaller 
size, but the does of other deer are never 
seen with them. We have already become 
acquainted with various kinds of horned 
animals, but deer-horns are entirely differ- 
ent from any others. The horns of the 
cow, the ox, the goat, etc. are hollow and 
composed of a substance like that of hoofs 
and talons ; they never branch like those 
of the deer, and, once grown on the head 
of the animal, they stay there unless bro- 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 63 

ken off by accident. But a deer has his 
horns only part of the year : they actually 
drop off like the leaves from the trees at 
the beginning of winter, and he does not 
get a new pair until spring/' 

"Why, that is like the crabs and lob- 
sters," said little Edith, who was quite 
proud of remembering that these creatures 
changed their old shells for new ones. 

" Yes, dear ; they are like them in casting 
off a portion of their bodies and having it 
grow again. I will read you a description 
of the manner in which these antlers grow 
in the common deer, and, although there 
are some large words in it, I think you can 
understand how these strange horns are 
formed: 'We will suppose that a full- 
grown stag is hiding in the depths of the 
forests in the month of March. He has no 
horns of any kind, and is hardly to be dis- 
tinguished from a doe but for his superior 
size. On his head are two slight promi- 
nences covered with a kind of velvety skin. 
In a few days the prominences become 
much larger, and in a week or so begin to 
assume a hornlike shape. Now grasp these 



164 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

budding horns with your hand, and you will 
find them quite hot — considerably hotter 
than those of the young ox. They are hot 
because this velvety substance with which 
they are covered is little else than a thick 
mass of arteries and veins through which 
the blood is pouring almost with the rapid- 
ity of inflammation, depositing with every 
touch a minute portion of horny matter. 
More and more rapidly increases the 
growth. The external carotid arteries be- 
come enlarged to supply a sufficient tide 
of blood to the horns through their arteries, 
whose size can be imagined from the grooves 
that they leave on the horn. At this period 
of their growth the horns can easily be bro- 
ken off; and if they are wounded in any way, 
the blood pours out with astonishing rapid- 
ity. At length the process is complete, and 
the noble animal walks decorated proudly 
with his enormous mass of horns. But the 
horns are at present useless, or worse than 
useless, to him, for not only does he not use 
them, but he fears the slightest touch, be- 
cause the sanguineous tide still pours round 
them. How is this to be stopped? and 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 65 

how is the velvety covering to be got rid 
of?"' 

" Oh, Miss Harson !" exclaimed Malcolm, 
in a sort of comical despair ; " what is ' san- 
guineous tide ' ?" 

"Try and think it out for yourself," was 
the reply. " How did the Sanguinaria, or 
bloodroot, get its name?" 

"I see now — thank you. It means the 
blood in the veins. But why couldn't the 
person who wrote it say so?" 

" Perhaps because ' sanguineous tide ' 
sounds better than ' blood ' and makes 
more variety of expression, and the book 
was written for grown-up people. But 
now let us see how the deer gets rid of 
the velvet covering on his horns: 'In a 
manner no less simple than wonderful. 
The arteries, having completed their work 
in depositing sufficient matter for the sub- 
stance of the horn, now turn their attention 
to the base. It will be seen that all the 
arteries that supply blood to the horns 
must necessarily pass up their base. As 
the bony substance is deposited each artery 
leaves for itself a groove very deep at the 



1 66 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

base and becoming shallower toward the 
tip. The entire horn being furnished, the 
base now becomes enlarged ; the grooves 
in which the arteries lie are covered by a 
bony deposit that compresses the artery 
within ; the deposit becomes gradually thick- 
er, and the arteries are in consequence 
gradually reduced in size, until at last they 
are completely obliterated and the supply 
of blood is cut off entirely. The velvet, 
being thus deprived of its nutriment, soon 
dies, and in a few days dries up, when the 
deer rubs off the shriveled fragments against 
the trees and is ready for combat/ " 

" How does he know just when to do it?" 
asked Clara. 

" I suppose, dear, that he is guided by feel- 
ing as well as by instinct; but he is some- 
times too impatient to wait until the arteries 
are quite dry, and rubs the velvet off while 
the blood trickles down his horns. This 
gives him quite a horrid appearance, and I 
should think the animal would be apt to 
feel very uncomfortable. The reindeer, it 
seems, is quite disposed to hurry matters 
in this way." 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 67 

"The horns look queer and uneven in 
the pictures, " said Malcolm — " more like a 
great bunch of thorns, or something, stuck 
on their heads. Aren't they very long, 
Miss Harson ?" 

" Yes ; the measurement of the longest 
part is over a yard, and they have several 
spikes and branches/' 

" I should think they would get dread- 
fully tangled in trees and bushes when 
there are anv," said Clara. 

"No," replied her governess, " for in 
that case the antlers are laid back flat on 
the head, and really help the animals on 
their way instead of hindering them." 

" Do reindeer go fast ?" asked Malcolm. 
"As fast as horses ?" 

" Yes — even faster ; but their speed de- 
pends upon the weather and the ground. 
They do best in autumn and early winter, 
because the cold agrees with them, and 
early in the season they do not get so tired 
digging for food as when the snow is deep. 
When the snow is w r ell packed and furrows 
have been made bv other sleighs, a swift 
reindeer will go a hundred and fifty miles 



1 68 SOME USEFLL ANIMALS. 

in one day, and he can travel for five or six 
hours without stopping at all." 

" Miss Harson," said Edith, with great 
interest, " will you please tell us what kind 
of things the reindeer finds to eat under 
the snow?" 

"Yes, Edie. He finds the moss which 
he thinks the most delicious thing in the 
world, but which he is not willing to eat 
unless he digs it out for himself. A 
traveler in Lapland speaks of driving 
through a forest and coming suddenly 
upon a great number of reindeer who 
were in comical positions, having thrust 
their heads and horns and fore feet far 
down into the snow. They were busily 
digging for moss, first with one fore foot 
and then with the other ; and as the holes 
grew larger still less of the reindeers', 
bodies would be seen, and the short, funny 
tail stuck up in a curious fashion. After 
2"oin<r on for a while the traveler and his 
companion turned back, and drove again 
through the same forest. Then, as he says, 
4 another strange sight presented itself. 
Where had the reindeer gone ? None 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 69 

were to be seen. Had they been taken 
away? As I approached the herd I dis- 
covered that all of them had dug holes so 
deep that I could see only their tails, which 
swayed to and fro. This was certainly a 
landscape I had never seen before/ ' 

It seemed very hard to the little audience 
that so comical a sight was thousands of 
miles away, and that they were not likely 
ever to see it, the waving of all those little 
tails above the snow was so extremely 
funny. 

" Don't deer ever have any better tails 
than that?" asked Malcolm, quite contempt- 
uously, as he examined the picture. 

"No," replied his governess, laughing; 
" the animal seems to come to an end very 
suddenly. His tail is short even for a 
deer, but it is thicker than that of some 
other varieties. His head is certainly the 
handsomest part of him. But, handsome 
or not, he is a wonderfully useful animal, 
and seems to have been made especially 
for the people of the cold regions where 
he lives. Reindeer's milk is an important 
article of food among the Lapps, as it is 



170 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

made into butter and cheese, while the 
cream is also dried in empty bladders, and 
mixed afterward, with hot water, into a 
kind of porridge which travelers pronounce 
good to the taste as well as nourishing." 

" How funny," said Clara, " for deers to 
give milk ! Is it like our cows' milk, Miss 
Harson ?" 

" It is better than that in one way, be- 
cause it is much thicker and richer— more 
like cream ; but there is very little of it. 
One deer will give scarcely enough at once 
to fill a small cup, but it is too rich to drink 
until water has been added to it. Milking- 
time, too, is different from what it is with 
us, as the reindeer objects to being milked 
at all, and a lasso is sometimes thrown 
over its horns to prevent it from running 
away. Sometimes one woman holds the 
deer while another does the milking." 

" Well," said Malcolm, with a sigh of 
regret, " I think Lapland's a splendid place, 
and I wish I could have just one good 
sleighride with a reindeer." 

" Perhaps," replied his governess, smil- 
ing, " it will answer quite as well for me to 



REINDEER WAYS. 171 

read you part of an account of 'one good 
sleiehride with a reindeer ' which a traveler 
in those cold regions took." 

The children were all eager to hear of 
it, and the young lady continued: 

" This sleighride lasted a whole day, and 
fortunately the traveler was not alone. 
The party were overtaken by a heavy 
snow-storm, with a furious wind, and were 
obliged to come to a sudden stop: 'We 
could go no farther, for it was impossible 
to see anything ahead, and there was 
danger of mistaking the passes which were 
to lead us to Norway. Besides, our rein- 
deer needed rest, and from excessive thirst 
they were eating the snow ravenously. I 
shall never forget how the storm ra^ed as 
we lay by a rock with our backs to the 
wind. For three hours we remained still, 
frequently almost buried, the thermometer 
being at fifteen degrees below zero. The 
wind was so terrific at times that hardly a 
particle of the several feet of snow that 
had fallen during the winter months re- 
mained on the ground. It flew in dense 
bodies, carried hither and thither. A hill 



172 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

was no sooner formed than it scattered in 
thick, heavy masses ; we were fearful of 
being buried under one of these hillocks, 
which were as dangerous as those formed 
by sand in the desert of Sahara. I noticed 
by the quickening steps of my animal that 
we were approaching the slope of a hill. 
I was not mistaken, and we descended a 
long, steep declivity with fearful speed. 
Suddenly my reindeer sunk above his flank 
into a bank of unpacked snow, and before 
he had time to spring out my sleigh dash- 
ed quickly ahead of him, and, suddenly 
stopping, threw me out. Fortunately, I 
leaped in at once, and the animal again 
started at what I thought a greater speed 
than before. One of the Finlanders just 
in front of me was less fortunate : his 
sleigh, moving faster than his deer, struck 
upon the legs of the animal, and he was 
thrown out. I saw the danger at a glance, 
but, unable to stop, went rushing down in 
the same track. My sleigh struck his, and 
by the force of the collision I was pitched 
headforemost into the snow. To add to 
the confusion, my animal became mad and 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 73 

charged upon me ; but I was soon on my 
legs and in again, following the Finn, who 
had started once more and was going at a 
rapid rate toward the base of the hill. 
Then came Elsa's turn to be upset, but 
soon she recovered her seat, and we reached 
the bottom without further mishap. The ad- 
venture was exciting and glorious/ " 

" There !" exclaimed Malcolm, just as Miss 
Harson had thought he would. " Doesn't 
the traveler say it was glorious ? It was 
just fun !" 

u Wait a minute, my excitable young 
friend, and you will probably change your 
mind. The party have not yet reached 
their journey's end, and this is what came 
next: 'At the foot of the hill the snow 
thinly covered the frozen stream, and the 
scene became rather ludicrous. There was 
not snow enough to prevent the reindeers' 
hoofs from touching the ice, so it was an 
impossibility for them to advance a step. 
The awkward attempts they made were 
quite amusing. We were compelled to get 
out of the sleighs and lead the animals, and 
it was with considerable difficulty and with 



174 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS, 

great loss of time that we succeeded in cross- 
ing. It is impossible for reindeer to travel 
over ice.' " 

" How strange that seems !" said Clara. 
" I should think they'd have to travel over 
ice when there's so much of it around." 

" There is more hard snow than ice, for 
ice is formed by partial melting. — ' As we as- 
cended the mountains on the other side the 
snow became deeper ; a part of the way 
led us through very narrow ravines in 
which it was so deep and soft that our 
boatlike sleighs ploughed heavily through 
it, sinking sometimes into it above their 
sides. I could not but admire the adapta- 
tion of the reindeer for such traveling ; their 
hoofs, between which grows long hair, 
spread in the snow as soon as their feet 
touched it, and, although the depth must 
have been in places eight or ten feet, they 
seldom sank into it as deeply as their knees. 
They moved so quickly that there was no 
time for them to sink deeper. At times, 
however, when passing through a very soft 
and heavy snowdrift, they would sink even 
to their bellies. 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 75 

"'Our progress now was exceedingly 
tedious. In ascending the hills our rein- 
deer became very tired from their struggles 
in the snow. They were heated ; their 
mouths would open and they panted for 
breath, sometimes even protruding their 
tongues. They were often so exhausted 
that they would drop upon the snow and 
lie on their backs, apparently in great suf- 
fering, then breathe hard and be so utterly 
helpless that a stranger would think they 
were about to die. After resting a few 
minutes in that position they would regain 
their breath, rise to their feet, eat snow and 
set off again. There were many steep and 
short hills up which it was impossible for 
them to run, and we were often obliged to 
get out of our sleighs to let them rest. 

" ' We came to the worst part of the 
journey on the brink of a narrow ravine, 
and stopped, for the descent was very ab- 
rupt and preparations to ensure safety had 
to be made. I felt rather concerned when 
I saw the difficulties to be encountered on 
the route, which was somewhat crooked ; 
in some places the ridge over which we 



\y6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

were to drive was quite narrow, the gneiss 
rocks were bare and the track was very 
steep and dangerous. While resting I 
watched the weary reindeer eating snow 
as fast as they could. 

" 'After every one had arrived the prep- 
arations began. Numbers of sleighs were 
lashed together by a long and strong leath- 
er-plaited cord, which was first secured to 
the forward part of each, then, passing 
along the middle, was made fast, after 
which it was attached to the next in the 
same manner, and so on ; four others were 
connected with mine. In this way eight or 
ten were often fastened together. With the 
exception of the leader, each reindeer was 
secured to the rear of his sleigh by a leath- 
er cord from the base of the horns ; almost 
every sleigh had a deer behind. Each man 
remained in his vehicle, the distance apart 
being small. The spare reindeer were for 
the first time harnessed, and the tired ones 
put behind. 

11 ' Pehr had to start the whole train, which, 
when once put in motion, would go with 
great velocity ; he rode with his legs out- 






REINDEER WAYS. 1 77 

side, turned back somewhat, with his feet 
touching the snow. Every man but me 
seated himself in the same posture, the 
feet acting as rudder and drag in the snow. 
I was not allowed to ride in that way, for 
they said my legs would surely be broken. 
When everything was ready, Pehr looked 
back and gave the signal, and started his 
reindeer down the hill in a zigzag course. 
This required great dexterity, as we flew 
over the snow with astonishing speed. At 
times the sleighs would swerve on the de- 
clivity, but we went so fast that we were 
soon out of danger. 

11 ' I was anxious in the highest degree : 
if one of those cords had broken, we should 
have been precipitated far below or dashed 
against the rocky sides. I admired the sim- 
plicity of the arrangements, which were dic- 
tated by the fact that reindeer cannot bear 
to be pulled by the head, especially by the 
horns ; each one, therefore, makes an effort 
to disengage himself, and by so doing acts 
as a brake to the ones in front, so that no 
sleigh is likely to be overturned. But what 
a speed ! what a precipice on our right ! In 
12 



178 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

two or three places we went for a short dis- 
tance over the bare rock. I was afraid the 
reindeer would miss their foothold, and was 
intensely excited, for I might at any mo- 
ment have been thrown out headlong. 
Pehr and my other companions were ac- 
customed to this route, and knew what they 
were about. After reaching the bottom of 
the ravine we allowed the panting animals 
to rest. We were now on the western shed 
of the mountains, and had just ended the 
most thrilling ride I had ever taken.' ' 

"The poor reindeer !" said Edith, pity- 
ingly, when her governess had finished. 
" How tired they must have been !" 

"And the poor men with their feet on 
the snow !" said Clara. " How cold they 
must have been !" 

" I suppose he was glad when he got 
down there," said Malcolm, thinking of 
the traveler, "but what a splendid time he 
had, though !" 

Miss Harson was much amused by these 
remarks, and she said to her little flock, 

" I think that such dangerous adventures 
are better to read about than to take part 



■ 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 79 

in, and I have read you this long descrip- 
tion that you might understand just how 
the reindeer is used in sleighing. The ac- 
count is taken from a very interesting book 
called The Lct7id of the Midnight Sun, which 
you will each read for yourself after a while. 
We are indebted to this book for a great 
deal of information about the reindeer and 
the Lapps, and I think we shall not easily 
forget what we have learned. " 

" Miss Harson," asked Edith, rather tim- 
idly, " was that long sleighride meant for a 
story ?" 

"It isn't possible," was the reply, "that 
you would expect any other ?" 

The children did not look in the least 
alarmed even when their governess warned 
them that some day the machine would 
have to stop grinding ; and when they dis- 
covered that it was to be one of Miss Har- 
son's own stories, they were in a state of de- 
lighted expectation. The story was called 

WHY CARL WENT BACK. 

Little Carl Nosser was wakened from a 
sound sleep one winter night by such a 



l8o SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

commotion that at first he thought a wolf 
or a bear, or perhaps one or two of the 
reindeer, had got into the tent ; for Carl 
lived in a tent in Lapland, and he did not 
know of people who lived in any other 
way. He sometimes had heard of travel- 
ers who roamed about the country and 
asked a great many questions, but he nev- 
er expected to see one of them, and he 
troubled himself little about them. He 
had plenty of work to do, although he was 
only ten years old; and when night came, 
he fell asleep as soon as he got under his 
sheepskin. 

Yes, Carl slept under a sheepskin, and 
over one too, and in cold weather — that is, 
cold weather for Lapland — he got into a 
sort of bag made of reindeer-skin with the 
fur inside. This was in place of a night- 
gown, and it kept his toes — and indeed 
every part of his whole person — as warm 
as toast. 

Carl liked to be warm, and he dearly liked 
to be comfortable. It did not make him 
comfortable to hear this noise and talking 
in the middle of the night, and to think that 



REINDEER WAYS. l8l 

some dreadful creature must have got into 
the tent, and at first he tried to go to sleep 
again and forget all about it. But presently 
the thought of his mother and little Marta, 
and of his father, the kind, generous Lars, 
made him feel ashamed, and he started up, 
quite awake, to see what was the trouble. 

It was a queer-looking place inside of 
the tent, only it did not look queer to Carl, 
because he was used to it. Right in the 
middle, under the opening at the top, a 
bright fire was burning, and over the fire 
was swung a large brass kettle with rein- 
deer-meat cooking in it. How good that 
meat did smell ! and how Carl wished he 
could have some ! They were making cof- 
fee, too, and he liked the smell of coffee, 
but they did not have this every day, and 
Carl had had his supper and been put to 
bed long ago. There were so many things in 
the tent that it seemed wonderful how room 
could be found for them all. There were 
only a large chest and some reindeer-skins 
on the floor to sit on, and the fire took up 
a great deal of space ; but there were sev- 
eral people and two or three dogs and 



1 82 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

various piles of wood, while hanging over- 
head were the baby's cradle and some rein- 
deer-horns, several pairs of snow-shoes, 
skins spread out to dry, harnesses and 
pieces of frozen meat. Besides all these 
things, clothes, saddles, empty pails, iron 
pots and wooden vessels were scattered 
around. 

Carl had seen this confusion ever since 
he could remember, and he supposed that 
every one's home looked like this ; but he 
had not seen the tall stranger who, with his 
guide, was now standing before the fire. 
The dogs had made such a terrible noise 
outside on the arrival of the visitors that it 
had wakened the boy, and now, in his com- 
ical sleeping-bag, he looked as strange to 
the English gentleman as the gentleman 
did to him. The other man was a Lapp, 
and Carl had seen him before, but he could 
not tell why he wanted to come and visit 
them in the middle of the night. He had 
come on very urgent business, for he and 
the gentleman were on their way to Swe- 
den, but had met with an accident by which 
they lost one of their reindeer and nearly 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 83 

lost their lives, and, as honest Lars Nos- 
ser's encampment was the nearest shelter, 
they had ventured to stop there in the mid- 
dle of the night and rouse the worthy peo- 
ple from their slumbers. A bed and some- 
thing to eat were necessities that must be 
provided at once, and the kind hosts went 
about supplying them as cheerfully as if it 
had been the middle of the day. 

After a while Carl's mother saw her boy's 
great round eyes wide open ; and when the 
guests had been attended to, she slipped 
over to the bed with a nice little piece of 
reindeer-meat, saying, as she popped it 
into his mouth, 

" Lie down to sleep again, little one; the 
stranger will not hurt thee." 

tl Then he isn't a giant, mother?" whis- 
pered Carl who had heard of such beings. 

" No, indeed!" was the reply; "he is a 
good man, and very tired. See ! I am go- 
inor to make his bed for him rig-lit away." 

For a mattress Mrs. Lars spread fresh 
skins over a pile of young birch-tree 
branches in one corner of the tent, and, 
with other skins for comfortables, the unex- 



1 84 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

pected visitors had a warm resting-place, 
and were soon asleep. Carl had scarcely 
swallowed his piece of meat before he for- 
got about that and everything else, and he 
did not wake even when he was moved 
out of the middle of the bed to make room 
for the rest of the family. 

The next morning the little Lapp boy 
could recollect nothing of what had hap- 
pened in the night before, and he was sur- 
prised all over again when he saw the 
visitor. But he soon discovered that the 
gentleman had pleasant, laughing eyes and 
a ready smile, and this made him think that 
one of the very first things he would want 
to do would be to see his reindeer; for 
Carl had a fine large reindeer of his own 
which was never used without his permis- 
sion, for it had been given to him as soon 
as he was born — which is the Lapland fash- 
ion of doing with babies — and it seemed 
to him that no other animal in the whole 
herd could compare with his. Mr. Thorne 
praised its handsome antlers and its pretty 
color, and laughingly asked Carl what he 
would take for it ; but the little Lapp only 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 85 

clasped his arms tightly around his rein- 
deer's neck, and the animal replied with an 
affectionate grunt. 

Then Carl put on his snow-shoes, and 
queer-looking things they were, like long 
rods with turned-up ends. They were 
made of fir-wood, and were four or five 
inches wide and only about a third of an 
inch thick in the middle, which was the 
thickest part. There was a piece of birch 
in the middle and over this a loop, through 
which the boy passed his foot. The under 
part was smooth and had a narrow furrow. 
The length of these shoes was enormous 
— fully equal to Carl's height — and to the 
stranger they looked awkward and trouble- 
some, but the young Lapp ran and jumped 
with these strange appendages, and even 
took flying leaps from one snowbank to 
another, laughing gleefully over the excite- 
ment. It looked so easy that Mr. Thorne 
tried it and attempted to slide down an 
embankment, but he reached the bottom 
sooner than he expected, and his shoes 
came off as soon as he started. He too 
laughed merrily, but Carl was quite grave 



1 86 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

and polite, and seemed afraid that the 
gentleman's feelings had been hurt. 

The visitor stayed that day and night, 
waiting for the guide to make some neces- 
sary preparations for their journey, and he 
and Carl were constant companions. He 
liked all the kind, hospitable family, but he 
had taken a decided fancy to the bright 
little fellow who seemed so partial to 
his society, and he told him a great deal 
about the wonderful things to be seen in 
England. Carl listened eagerly ; and when 
Mr. Thorne asked him if he would like 
to go home with him and go to school, he 
said that he would. 

The good Lars and Margarita looked 
troubled at first when the gentleman pro- 
posed taking their boy so far away from 
them, but after a few moments they said 
reverently, 

" God will take care of him as well there 
as here. It is for Carl's good. We con- 
sent." 

Then Carl got his beloved reindeer and 
his snow-shoes ready, never doubting but 
that he should need them in England ; his 



REINDEER WAYS. 1 87 

mother made up a little parcel of clothing 
for him, which she gave him with a good- 
bye kiss, and his father solemnly blessed 
him ; so, feeling very important and quite 
like a man, he started with his new friend. 
After a while he began to ask, 

" Do they have such beautiful snow as 
this in England? Are there forests there 
of birch and pine and fir? Do you have 
w r arm skins to sleep under and nice blad- 
der-puddings to eat? And do you hunt 
wolves and bears ?" 

" Oh no," said Mr. Thorn e ; "our coun- 
try is quite different from that. It is not 
cold, and there are no wild animals. You 
will not need your snow-shoes, and I am 
afraid the reindeer will starve unless you 
can gret him to eat something else instead 
of moss." 

Carl looked solemnly at his companion 
while he was speaking; and when he had 
finished, he replied : 

" Then I will go back to the mother and 
stay in Lapland. It is not good to be 
where everything is so strange ;" and, in 
spite of all his new friend's persuasion, the 



1 88 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

little Lapp turned back on his snow-shoes, 
and never stopped until he found himself 
in front of the beloved tent with its nice 
hole in the top for letting out the smoke, 
its piles of wood and its sleigh, and all 
sorts of handy things, scattered about out- 
side. 

Mr. Thorne could not help laughing at 
Carl's quick movement toward home as 
soon as he realized that all the delightful 
things to which he was accustomed would 
have to be given up, but, in spite of his 
disappointment, he felt very kindly toward 
the little fellow, and when the guide re- 
turned sent him a box that was a constant 
source of delight as long as its contents 
lasted. On top of this box was a dear 
little Bible with Carl's name and "A gift 
from his English friend " written in it, while 
inside the box were candies the like of 
which the boy had never dreamed of, and 
just in the middle he came to a white-sugar 
reindeer. It was beautiful, and Mr. Thorne 
had tied to it a slip of paper on which was 
written "Selma," the name of Carl's own 
live reindeer. 






REINDEER WAYS. 1 89 

" It must have come all the way from 
Stockholm/' said Carl, in a tone of awe. 

The little Bible, too, was a great prize, 
for, although the blessed book was well 
known and read aloud every day in the 
tent of Lars Nosser, Carl had not yet had 
one of "his very own." 

The good Margarita clasped her boy in 
her arms and said, 

" It is well : the home and the Bible are 
all any one needs/' 



CHAPTER IX. 

AMERICAN COUSINS. 

HAVING warmly approved of the sto- 
ry about the little Lapp boy, the chil- 
dren eagerly asked if there were any rein- 
deer in the United States. 

" Not any that are known by that name," 
replied Miss Harson, " but there is a spe- 
cies of deer called the woodland caribou 
which is thought by naturalists to be very 
much the same. The antlers are almost 
exactly alike, but the woodland caribou is 
often a third larger than the reindeer. 
The American species is also lighter in 
color and has more white about the neck, 
the old males having a long white mane 
which often measures over a foot in length. 
This mane curves very gracefully in front 
and is quite ornamental. The head and 
the legs of the caribou are of a tawny 

190 



AMERICA X COUSINS. I9I 

brown, while the rest of the body is nearly 
all white." 

"But they can't find reindeer-moss to 
eat in this country, can they ?" asked Mal- 
colm. 

"Yes," replied his governess; "a moss 
which answers this purpose is found in 
great quantities in Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick, where the caribou is seen ; 
and, besides this, it feeds upon a variety 
of lichens and grasses, also upon shrubs 
and trees. It is said that after they have 
disappeared an experienced hunter can 
easily follow these animals ' by noticing 
where they have cropped the twigs or 
stripped the moss from the trees in pass- 
ing, and by careful inspection will judge 
something of their number and of how 
recently they have passed. This cropping 
is done by the animals without their stop- 
ping to feed, but as they walk along.' The 
moss of which they are so fond sometimes 
grows two or three feet deep in barren 
places where no other vegetation is found. 
It is very thick in Labrador, where the 
inhabitants almost entirely depend on the 



I92 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

caribou for their food. A traveler in Nova 
Scotia speaks of seeing the snow quite 
trodden down during the night by this ani- 
mal, ' which had come to the place to feed on 
the " old men's beards " in the tops of the 
spruces felled by the lumberers on the day 
previous. In the same locality/ he adds, 
'1 have observed such frequent scratchings 
in the first light snows of the season at the 
foot of the trees in beech-groves that I am 
convinced that the animal, like the bear, is 
partial to the rich food afforded by the 



moss/ ' 



"Miss Harson," said Clara, "I remem- 
ber you telling us a funny thing about the 
reindeer; you said that its feet spread 
open when it was traveling over the snow. 
Does the caribou have the same queer 
kind of feet?" 

"The very same, as the hoof is large 
and broad and seems made for bearing the 
animal up in snow and on soft, swampy 
ground. The cleft between the toes is 
long, and this enables the foot so to spread 
out that sometimes it looks twice as large 
as at others, 'and the imprint in soft 



AMERICAN COUSINS, I93 

ground is so much larger than on a hard 
surface as to require the eye of a practiced 
hunter to recognize the track as made by 
the same animal.' This wonderful foot 
changes in the winter: the edges grow out 
in thin, sharp ridges; the under part 
hardens ; and the caribou is provided with 
a natural pair — or, rather, two pairs — of 
skates which never get out of order. 
'With this singular conformation of the 
foot, its great lateral spread and the addi- 
tional assistance afforded in maintaining a 
foothold on slippery surfaces by the long, 
stiff bristles which grow downward from 
the fetlock, curving upward underneath be- 
tween the divisions, the caribou is enabled 
to proceed over crusted snow, to cross 
frozen lakes or to ascend icy precipices 
w T ith an ease which places him, when in 
flight, beyond the reach of all enemies 
except, perhaps, the nimble and untiring 
wolf/ " 

A very strong desire was expressed by 
the youthful audience to see the caribou 
with his winter skates on, and Edith sug- 
gested that perhaps there might be some 

V6 



194 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

in the woods at Elmridge when it was very 
cold and slippery. 

" No, dear," replied her governess ; 
" these animals are great wanderers, but 
they do not get quite so far away from 
home as that. They are very shy, too, and 
the least strange thing frightens them. 
'The woodland caribou,' says our natural- 
ist, 'seems a wild, restless animal, even dur- 
ing the winter ranging through wide dis- 
tricts of country, and often changing his 
home, and very suspicious and wary. An 
alarm from which the moose would flee only 
a few miles will send the caribou a whole 
day at a rapid pace which takes him quite 
out of the country and defies the pursuit 
of the hunter/ " 

11 Don't they ever catch it, then ?" asked 
Malcolm. " I thought that the people in 
Labrador ate it !" 

" Yes, but it is said that only these peo- 
ple and other Indians can successfully pur- 
sue it, and it is very common for sportsmen 
who go hunting in far regions to take an 
Indian with them. ' It is in the damp and 
fresh-fallen snow that the caribou is most 



AMERICAN COUSINS. 1 95 

successfully followed. Then it is that the 
foot clad in the moccasin made from the 
skin of the hock of the moose returns no 
sound to the hunter's step, and he is en- 
abled to elide through the dark forest or 
the bleak barren as noiselessly as a cat 
upon a carpet. In districts where the car- 
ibou" is not hunted except by the Indians, 
as in the interior of Newfoundland and 
Labrador, caribou are less suspicious and 
less difficult to approach. There they have 
their regular trails and run-ways, which they 
pursue in their ordinary migrations, always 
crossing the streams at favorite fords. In 
these migrations the deer march in small 
bands, in single file, generally several feet 
apart, in well-beaten paths. Their march is 
leisurely made and rather slow. They fre- 
quently pick the lichens as they pass, unless 
they observe something to excite their sus- 
picions. This is the time for the natives to 
make their harvest of meat. The greatest op- 
portunity is at the ford of a broad stream/ " 

" Poor things !" said Clara. "It seems a 
shame to kill them." 

11 You would not think so, perhaps, if 



I96 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

you were fond of venison and could not 
get much else to eat. Sometimes, in win- 
ter, the caribou will cross on the ice the 
water that separates Newfoundland from 
Labrador ; and when it does this the In- 
dians can more easily waylay and destroy 
it. They pursue the animals with bow and 
arrow, and succeed in slaying- a great many. 
Once three Indians who had been watching 
several hours for caribou encountered more 
game than they expected. Hearing the 
clatter of hoofs over the rocks, they look- 
ed in a direction from which they least ex- 
pected caribou to come, and there were two 
caribou pursued by a small band of wolves 
and coming to the very place where they 
w r ere lying. ' They were not more than 
three hundred yards away and were coming 
with tremendous bounds, and were fast in- 
creasing the distance between themselves 
and the wolves, who had evidently sur- 
prised them only a short time before. 
Neither Michel nor his companions had fire- 
arms, but each was provided with his bow 
and arrows. The deer came on ; the Indi- 
ans lay in the snow, ready to shoot. The 



AMERICAN COUSINS. 1 97 

unsuspecting- animals darted past the hunt- 
ers like the wind, but each received an ar- 
row, and one dropped. Instantly taking a 
fresh arrow, the Indians w r aited for the 
wolves. With a long and steady gallop 
these ravenous creatures followed their 
prey; but when they came within ten yards 
of the Indians, the latter suddenly rose. 
Each discharged an arrow at the amazed 
brutes, and succeeded in transfixing one 
with a second arrow before it could get out 
of reach. Then, leaving the wolves, they 
hastened after the caribou. There, quite 
close to that steep rock,' continued the in- 
terpreter who was telling the story, ' the 
caribou which Michel had shot was dead ; 
he had been shot in the eye, and could not 
go far. Michel stopped to guard his car- 
ibou, as the wolves were about. One of 
his cousins went after the deer he had hit ; 
the other went back after the wolves which '■ 
had been wounded. The wolf-cousin had 
not gone far back when he heard a loud 
yelling and howling. He knew what the 
wolves were at: they had turned upon their 
wounded companion and were quarreling 



I98 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

over the meal. The Indian ran on, and 
came quite close to the wolves, who made 
so much noise and were so greedily devour- 
ing the first he had shot that he approached 
quite close to them and shot another, killing 
it at once. The caribou-cousin had to go a 
long distance before he got his deer/ ' 

"What horrible creatures wolves are !" 
exclaimed Malcolm. " I'd like to kill five 
hundred thousand of 'em." 

M What an ambitious desire !" laughed 
his governess. " But wait until we come 
to wolves ; you may find them very in- 
teresting. ,, 

" But they chased the pretty deer," re- 
monstrated Edith, "and wanted to kill 'em." 

"And I'm very much afraid, little girlie," 
replied the young lady, "that the pretty 
deer would chase you, and kill you too, if 
they got a chance." 

"Would they eat her?" asked Clara, 
with great interest. 

"I think not," said Miss Harson, "as they 
are not carnivorous — that is, flesh-eating. 
But it would make no difference to Edie 
after she had been killed whether they did 



AMERICAN COUSINS. 1 99 

or not, and it is best to keep out of their 
way." 

"Yes," said Edith, very earnestly; "I'm 
going to run as soon as I see one." 

" Climb a fence, Baby," suggested her 
brother, " or get up a tree ; then you will 
be safe." 

This was rather mean of Malcolm, as he 
knew very well that poor " Baby " could do 
neither one nor the other, and there was a 
very suspicious approach to crying which 
Miss Harson contrived to nip in the bud. 

"/ can't climb a tree," said the young 
lady, laughing, "and I am not at all sure 
about going over a fence ; but, as I never 
expect to have to run away from caribou 
or other wild animals, this does not trouble 
me at all. — Now let us see what else 
travelers say about our American reindeer : 
* The caribou travel in herds varying from 
eight or ten to two or three hundred, and 
their daily excursions are generally toward 
the quarter whence the wind blows. The 
Indians kill them with the bow and arrow 
or with the gun, take them in snares or 
spear them in crossing rivers or lakes. 



200 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

The Esquimaux also take them in traps 
ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all 
the deer of North America, they are the 
most easy of approach and are slaughtered 
in the greatest numbers. A single family 
of Indians will sometimes destroy two or 
three hundred in a few weeks, and in many 
cases they are killed for the sake of their 
tongues alone/ " 

"That seems dreadfully cruel," said 
Clara. 

"It does indeed, Clara," replied her 
governess, "and this is often the case 
where wild animals are plentiful. 'The 
Esquimaux trap these deer, using the rein- 
deer-moss for bait. The trap is constructed 
of frozen snow or ice enclosing a room of 
sufficient dimensions to hold several deer, 
and over this is laid a thin slab of ice sup- 
ported on wooden axles forward of the 
centre of gravity. The top of this is 
accessible only by a way prepared for the 
purpose, and beyond is laid the tempting 
moss. In reaching it the deer passes over 
the treacherous slab of ice, which is tilted 
by the weight of the animal, and he is 



AMERICAN COUSINS. 201 

precipitated into the room below, when 
the top, relieved of the weight, resumes its 
horizontal position and is ready set for 
another victim. Great numbers are cap- 
tured by the Indians by driving them into 
pens or enclosures made of bushes and 
placed in the course of some well-beaten 
path where a narrow gateway is left, from 
either side of which is placed a diverging 
line of bushes or piles of stone, perhaps 
one hundred feet apart. These may extend 
a mile or two and at their extremities be 
far apart. A watch is kept from some 
high point of observation ; and when a 
herd of deer is observed approaching, the 
whole family, men, women and children, 
quietly skulk around them and drive them 
within the lines of objects which in their 
stupidity and on account of their defective 
eyesight they regard as impassable barriers, 
and so rush straight forward upon the path 
into the enclosure, in which is a labyrinth 
of ways made by rows of bushes, where 
the deer become fairly dazed and are 
slaughtered with spears, and even with 
clubs, the women and children in the mean 



202 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

time guarding the outside of the enclosure 
to prevent the escape of any. The num- 
ber slaughtered in this way is very great, 
and furnishes the natives with provision 
in great abundance/ This," added Miss 
Harson, "although it sounds cruel, is not 
so, because it is done to obtain necessary 
food ; and we shall see that wild animals 
which can be used for food are always 
most abundant where little else can be 
found to eat." 

" Can't deer see well," asked Malcolm, 
"when they have such large, bright eyes?" 

" No," was the reply ; " their eyes are 
beautiful to look at, but they seem to be 
of very little use in keeping them out of 
danger. They see things quickly, but they 
do not appear to know what they are. 
Their sense of smell is keen, but even this 
may be overcome by cunning; and there 
are a great many stories of the deceptions 
used by various tribes of Indians to snare 
and kill this valuable animal." 

" Please tell us some more, Miss Har- 
son/' pleaded Clara. 

" Please do," chimed in Edith, forgetting 



AMERICAN COUSINS. 203 

her horror of " the cruel Indians who 
killed the pretty deer." 

" Don't some of 'em dress up in the 
horns and skin ?" asked Malcolm. 

" Yes ; that is practiced among the Dog- 
rib Indians. 'The hunters go in pairs, the 
foremost man carrying in one hand the 
horns and part of the skin of the head of 
a deer, and in the other a small bunch of 
twigs, against which he from time to time 
rubs the horns, imitating the gestures 
peculiar to the animal. His comrade fol- 
lows, treading exactly in his footsteps and 
holding the guns of both in a horizontal 
position, so that the muzzles project under 
the arms of him who carries the head. 
Both hunters have a fillet of white skin 
around their foreheads, and the foremost 
has a strip of the same around his waist. 
They approach the herd by degrees, rais- 
ing their legs very slowly, but setting them 
down somewhat suddenly, after the manner 
of a deer, and always taking care to lift 
right or left feet simultaneously. If any of 
the herd leaves off feeding to gaze upon 
this extraordinary phenomenon, it instantly 



204 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

stops, and the head begins to play its part by 
licking its shoulders and performing other 
necessary movements. In this way the hunt- 
ers attain the very centre of the herd with 
out exciting suspicion, and have leisure 
to single out the fattest. The hindmost 
man then pushes forward his comrade's 
gun ; the head is dropped, and they both 
fire nearly at the same instant. The deer 
scamper off; the hunters trot after them. 
In a short time the poor animals halt to as- 
certain the cause of their terror ; their foes 
stop at the same moment, and, having load- 
ed as they ran, greet the gazers with a sec- 
ond fatal discharge. The consternation 
of the deer increases; they run to and fro 
in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a 
great part of the herd is destroyed within 
the space of a few hundred yards/ 

"I think, Malcolm/' said his governess, 
smiling, " that you will know now exactly 
how to act when you go North to hunt the 
caribou. With a few words more about the 
Esquimaux way of capturing this animal, 
I am sure you will need no further instruc- 
tion: 'When feeding on the level ground, 






AMERICAN COUSINS. 205 

an Esquimaux makes no attempt to ap- 
proach him, but, should a few rocks be near, 
the wary hunter makes sure of his prey. Be- 
hind one of these he cautiously creeps, and, 
having laid himself very close with his bow 
and arrow before him, imitates the bellow 
of the deer when calling each other. Some- 
times, for more complete deception, the 
hunter wears his deerskin coat and hood 
so drawn over his head as to resemble in a 
great measure the unsuspecting animals he 
is enticing. The bellow is very attractive ; 
yet if a man has great patience, he may do 
without it and be equally certain that his 
prey will finally come to examine him, the 
reindeer being an inquisitive animal, and at 
the same time so silly that if he sees any sus- 
picious object which is not actually chasing 
him he will gradually, and after many caper- 
ings and after forming repeated circles, ap- 
proach nearer and nearer to it. The Esqui- 
maux rarely shoots till the creature is quite 
close. The great curiosity of this deer 
leads it to destruction, and it has not the 
acute sense of smell which is possessed by 
the other deer. Add to these infirmities its 



206 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

stupidity and the fact that it is easily dis- 
tracted, so that it is incapable of escape 
even in the open plain, and we have the 
picture of an animal which is very useful to 
the natives, who have to depend on the rud- 
est and most imperfect weapons to procure 
subsistence/ " 

The little Kyles enjoyed these accounts 
so much that Miss Harson said she would 
have to send them off among the Esqui- 
maux. Edith was almost frightened and 
Clara made a wry face, but Malcolm de- 
clared it was just what he wanted — for a 
while. 



CHAPTER X. 

A QUEER SPECIMEN. 

THE children were laughing one after- 
noon over the picture of a very absurd 
and not at all amiable-looking animal which 
they called a " big reindeer." Perched high 
up, as though he had been on stilts, this 
queer creature looked as if he had humped 
up his shoulders to reach his horns, and 
these were of a very funny description, 
being more like immense leaves than any- 
thing else. 

"This outside one is like a hand in a mit- 
ten with a very long thumb," cried Mal- 
colm, excitedly. "Look at it sticking out 
there \" 

" Not a bad description," said Miss Har- 
son, who came into the room while he was 
speaking, "and these queer antlers are 
called ' palmated/ because they do bear 

207 



208 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

some resemblance to a hand or a palm. 
They are uneven, you see, and those on 
the other side are shorter, looking like two 
hands with only three fingers apiece. The 
reindeer's antlers are slightly palmated at 
the ends, but only the moose — -for that is 
the name of this beautiful being — has ant- 
lers like boards with jagged edges." 

" I think," said Clara, carefully examin- 
ing the long, ungainly head, " that he looks 
like a pig." 

" He's got a regular horse's head," said 
Malcolm. " Look at his nose ! — Which of 
us is right, Miss Harson ?" 

" Both," was the reply. " I think he 
suggests both a pig and a horse. — -And 
what does Edie say?" 

"He looks queer," replied the youngest 
naturalist. "I'm glad he isn't alive." 

All laughed at Edith's remark, and 
agreed that it would not be altogether 
pleasant to have such a great lumbering 
creature prowling about at Elmridge. 

" How low his antlers are !" said Mal- 
colm. "They look so spread out." 

"Yes," replied his governess, "and they 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 2O9 

also look very strong, making formidable 
weapons of warfare. ' The moose/ says a 
naturalist, 'like all the others of his genus, 
joins battle with a great rush which must 
often try the strength of the antlers to the 
utmost; yet we have no account of the 
antlers being broken short off, but it fre- 
quently happens that the tines or snags 
are dislocated. But for the great elasticity 
possessed by antlers over all other bones, 
owing to the larger proportion of animal 
matter which they contain, a single battle 
would serve to destroy them.' ' 

" What are 'tines or snags/ Miss Har- 
son ?" asked Clara. 

"Why, you know w r hat the tines of a 
fork are — the divisions. You see these 
even in the antlers of the moose, on the 
edge. I should like to have you remember 
as well as you can that the main stem of 
all antlers is called the ' beam / the larger 
branches from the beam are called ' tines/ 
and the branches from these, and small 
branches from the beam, are called * snags/ 
The flattened portions of either the beam 
or the tines are called ' palms/ There is 

14 



2IO SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

more to be learned about antlers, which 
can be left for some future time. ,, 

"I don't believe," said Malcolm, ruefully, 
" that I shall ever remember anything but 
' tines/ because I can think of forks for 
that." 

" If that will help you so much," said 
Miss Harson, "you can think of the Mis- 
sissippi River for snags, and of a verse in 
the Bible for beam, and of your hands for 
palms. But it always seems to me easier to 
think of the thing itself in the beginning." 

" That's because you can think of any- 
thing you want to, ma'am," replied her old- 
est pupil, "but I'm like that boy who had 
such 'a good forgettery.' " 

" Nonsense !" said the young lady, laugh- 
ing. " A bad memory is often only want 
of interest. Really care for things which 
you ought to remember, and you will find 
the remembering quite easy. Now let us 
see what is said of the appearance of our 
handsome new friend : ' In form the moose 
is an ungainly animal — a short body, a 
very short tail and neck, a prodigiously 
long, ugly head, with a projecting nose or 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 211 

upper Up, which gives the animal a revolt- 
ing look. He has enormous ears, short, 
spreading, palmated antlers and very long 
legs, to which he is indebted for his great 
height/ He is about the size of an ordi- 
nary horse, but not nearly so graceful ; 



and in addition to all these charms he has 
what is called 'a pendulous appendage' 
— which means something hanging — under 
his throat. It is covered with long, coarse 
black hairs, and hunters speak of it as ■ the 
bell/ " 

This description just matched the picture, 



212 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

which was now examined with fresh inter- 
est. 

" What color is a moose, Miss Harson ?" 
asked Clara. 

" Very often of a jet black, if it is an old 
bull-moose ; when it is younger, its color is 
a tawny brown on the upper side, but much 
lighter underneath. The cow-moose is of 
a light sandy color above and almost white 
beneath. The calves are of the same hue, 
rather indistinctly spotted. The color of 
this animal varies somewhat with the sea- 
son, and so does its coat. In summer this 
covering is of soft, fine, firm hair, while the 
winter coat, which is at first short, fine and 
glossy, as it gets later grows coarse and 
open. For midwinter the moose is pro- 
vided with a thick under- coat of fur." 

" Does it come off and on?" said Edith, 
who was thinking of her doll's clothes. 

" Not in the way you mean, dear," was 
the laughing reply, " as it would be rather 
difficult for so awkward an animal to dress 
and undress itself. The fur comes out as 
hair does when summer approaches, and 
grow T s in again as soon as it is needed." 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 21 3 

"These ears," said Malcolm, "are the 
queerest-looking things ! See what tre- 
mendous ones the cow-moose has." 

"Yes," replied his governess, " they are 
nearly a foot long, and very broad besides. 
The eyes are small for an animal of the 
deer family, and they are said to be capable 
of a most malignant expression. See, too, 
how square the muzzle is and what a deep 
cleft it has. The upper lip stands out 
several inches beyond the lower, and is 
called ' prehensile,' which means movable 
and able to hold fast. ' With this organ 
the moose is able to hold on to the boughs 
and twigs of tall saplings ' — which is the kind 
of food he particularly likes — 'and to con- 
vey them within the grasp of his powerful 
teeth/ " 

" Doesn't he eat moss, like the reindeer ?" 
asked Clara. 

" Not when he can get young trees and 
shrubs, as his long legs and short, thick 
neck make it hard work for him to feed 
on anything so low. He is the largest of 
all the deer species, and belongs to the fam- 
ily of elk or wapiti ; but the animals es- 



214 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

pecially called by this name are smaller 
and in some respects different/' 

"Are there any mooses near us, Miss 
Harson ?" asked Edith. 

" * Moose/ dear, not * mooses/ No, there 
are none at all near us, for they like cold 
places in which to live. They used to be 
found in the Adirondacks — which, as I have 
told you, are in the northern part of New 
York State — and they were frequently 
found in Maine. Now one is occasionallv 
seen in the wildest portions of the latter 
State, but they have been so persistently 
hunted and destroyed that they are a rare 
sight. I remember once," added the young 
lady, " when I was spending the early au- 
tumn in Maine, that I gathered some beauti- 
ful berries to put in a bouquet, and my 
friends there told me these were ' moose- 
berries/ " 

"Oh!" was the eager exclamation. "What 
did they look like, Miss Harson ?" 

"Almost exactly like wax. They were 
small, long-shaped and in clusters. Not 
being fully ripe, they were just turning an 
exquisite cherry-color, and the part not 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 21 5 

tinted was of a greenish white. They 
grew on tall bushes, and I suppose that 
the moose are in the habit of eating simi- 
lar berries, with the twigs on which they 
are found. They seemed to me the pret- 
tiest things of the kind I had ever seen. 
The moose is found in New Brunswick 
and Nova Scotia and the ice-bound regions 
around ; he is also very much at home in the 
northern parts of Europe. These animals 
have a curious habit of making settlements 
for themselves in winter ; these settlements 
are called 'yards/ When the snow be- 
comes deep in the forests which they in- 
habit, they will gather in small bands and 
work industriously at these winter residences. 
Some of them are much more complete than 
others, but all are made by tramping the 
snow down to a hard floor through the yard, 
leaving it surrounded by a high wall of un- 
trodden snow. 'The places selected for 
these yards are dense thickets affording the 
greatest abundance of shrubbery yielding 
their favorite food. This they utterly de- 
stroy within their yard by consuming the 
twigs and stripping off the bark. Even from 



2l6 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

the large trees which they cannot bend 
down in order to reach their tops they strip 
the bark as far as they can reach. If they 
do not relish this coarse, dry bark of the 
large trees, they consume it all to satisfy 
their hunger. When all the food within the 
yard — which sometimes becomes consider- 
ably extended to reach the shubbery — is 
gone, they break their way to another lo- 
cation, where a fresh supply may be found, 
and form a new yard/ Sometimes the yard 
itself is small, but paths are made and well 
packed down ; between the paths reaching 
to the trees and shrubbery in the neighbor- 
hood the deep snow is undisturbed. The 
moose feeds with great satisfaction upon 
evergreens, and he is the only animal that 
is known to do this." 

"Is he good to eat?" was Malcolm's next 
inquiry. 

"The moose-hunters think so," was the 
reply, " but the venison is rather coarse. 
The upper lip is considered a great delicacy 
by the natives, and the tongue is much es- 
teemed by them. The skin is used for tent- 
covers and shoe-leather, and there is so 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 2\J 

much of it altogether that it is well worth 
hunting/' 

" I should think people would be afraid 
of those dreadful horns," said Clara. "I 
shouldn't like to go near it." 

11 Moose-hunting is dangerous work, and 
' instances have been known in which the 
hunter has met his death in these encoun- 
ters, his ribs being fractured by the powerful 
blows of the fore feet, and his whole body 
gashed and torn by the antlers of the in- 
furiated animal.' With those immense ears 
the animal can hear at a great distance, and 
can as easily detect danger by the power 
of scent in the huore nose. ■ The slightest 
crackling of a dried stick beneath the hunt- 
er's foot, the rustling of the underwood 
against his person, are conveyed to a great 
distance in the forest, and apprise the wary 
moose of danger.' Times of deep snow 
are preferred by the Indians for pursuing 
the animals, as then they are quite easily 
caught in the 'yards' and killed by whole- 
sale. A single one can successfully be fol- 
lowed over the snow by an Indian on his 
snow-shoes, as the Indian can get on very 



2l8 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 






rapidly, while the poor heavy moose strug- 
gles through the snow, at every step sink- 
ing in up to his thighs. He flounders out 
again and keeps on as long as he can, but 
it is terrible work even with his great 
strength, and before long he is quite ex- 
hausted. Later in the season, when the 
top of the snow is softened by the sun dur- 
ing the day and frozen hard during the 
night, a crust is formed which will bear a 
dog or a man, but not so heavy a body as 
that of a moose. A chase when the snow 
is in this condition is sure to end in favor 
of the hunter. The small, sharp foot of the 
animal cuts directly through this crust, and 
he sinks at every step, while in rising from 
it the sharp edges of the icy crust cut and 
bruise his legs, so that he cannot get on 
very fast and- is soon overtaken and killed. 
This kind of hunting is called * crusting/ " 

"That seems mean," said Malcolm; "the 
poor moose doesn't have half a chance." 

u I quite agree with you," replied his gov- 
erness, "and catching the animal with a 
noose made from the hide of one of his 
relations is not much of an improvement 



220 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

'This was placed across a convenient limb 
which was suspended directly over the path 
in the forest, large enough for the head and 
antlers of the largest moose to pass through, 
but sufficiently high from the ground to an- 
swer the purpose. To the other end a 
heavy weight — usually a log of w r ood — 
was attached. This was held suspended 
high above the ground by a trip properly 
arranged, which was to spring by the least 
strain from the loop of the thong. Through 
this the moose would unsuspectingly pass 
till his breast or fore legs should touch the 
lower line of the noose, when the trip would 
be drawn tightly around the neck of the 
animal. A few minutes struggling and 
rearing must always end in his death. In 
this way the Indians captured many moose, 
elk, and other animals, before they obtained 
re-arms. 

" Do they catch 'em in any other way?" 
asked Clara. 

" Oh yes; the Indians have various plans 
and stratagems for securing such animals 
as they need. It was not easy to kill so 
large an animal as the moose with bow and 



A QUEER SPECIMEN, 221 

arrow unless they were very close to him; 
and with such ears to warn him of the 
slio-hest sound, and such a nose to inform 
him of the faintest unfamiliar smell, it 
seemed impossible to approach him. 'In 
summer-time he was more frequently cap- 
tured in the water. At that season he 
affects marshy grounds where lakes and 
lakelets abound, and into these he plunges 
to escape the torments of the flies and mos- 
quitoes, deeply immersing himself much 
of the time, generally with only his nose 
above water. In this position he could 
successfully be attacked by the Indians in 
their canoes at sufficiently close quarters 
to make their arrows effective, or they 
could even disable him with blows before 
he could escape. This was often danger- 
ous sport, or business — whichever you 
please to call it — for a single blow from 
the antlers or the foot of a moose w T as 
sufficient to sink a canoe, when the hunter 
would be fortunate if he escaped with his 
life. This mode of pursuit was, however, 
generally successful, and much meat was 
obtained m that way by the natives.' ' 



222 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" Miss Harson," asked little Edith, who 
had been deeply considering the matter, 
"do Indians and Laplands, and all such 
funny people, just eat meat for dinner, and 
nothing else?" It seemed to her that they 
were always hunting and killing things, 
but nothing was said about their raising 
vegetables or making nice bread and cake. 

"Very often, dear/' was the reply, "they 
have nothing else to eat. They live in 
cold, barren countries, you must remember, 
where it would be impossible to make 
things grow if they tried ever so hard, and 
because they need them God has made 
plentiful the very animals they need. It is 
God, too, who gives them the knowledge 
to catch these animals, and what would be 
very cruel for us to do is not cruel for 
them. Do you remember our talking on 
this very subject? — And these very moose 
whom you pity so much, Malcolm, often 
kill one another without any help from 
the Indians." 

"What do they do that for?" asked the 
children, in great surprise. 

"Because they are so quarrelsome; and 






A QUEER SPECIMEN. 223 

when two of these great creatures rush at 
each other in a fury, they always fight with 
their antlers, each trying to inflict a terrible 
wound upon the other. A naturalist says 
that when wandering through the woods he 
has several times found the skeletons of 
two moose whose antlers had become so 
firmly interlaced in their encounter that, 
unable to extricate themselves, the animals 
had miserably perished face to face. Other 
deer have been found entangled in the 
same manner. Even a young moose is 
very ferocious, and Audubon, the great 
American naturalist, says of one that had 
been captured, ' The moose was so ex- 
hausted and fretted that it offered no oppo- 
sition to us as we led it to the camp, but in 
the middle of the night we were awakened 
by a great noise in the hovel, and found 
that, as it had in some measure recovered 
from its terror and state of exhaustion, it 
began to think of getting home, and was 
much enraged at finding itself so securely 
imprisoned. We were unable to do any- 
thing with it ; for if we merely approached 
our hands to the openings of the hut, it 



224 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

would spring at us with the greatest fury, 
roarino- and erecting its mane in a manner 
that convinced us of the futility of all 
attempts to save it alive. We threw to it 
the skin of a deer, which it tore to pieces 
in a moment. This individual was a year- 
ling and about six feet high.' " 

" Just think/' exclaimed Clara, "of being 
six feet high and only a year old !" 

"This would be strange indeed for a 
human being," replied her governess, " but 
it is not strange for a moose. One peculi- 
arity in which this animal indulges is quite 
amusing: when it hears a sudden noise 
and starts on a run, it will sometimes fall 
down suddenly, as if it had been taken 
with a fit. This does not last long, how- 
ever, and presently it is up and off again, 
shambling along in its clumsy way, but 
getting swiftly over the ground/' 

"Miss Harson," said Malcolm, "do the 
people where the moose live ever catch 
'em and make 'em draw things, like the 
reindeer ? I s'pose they'd run away and 
upset everything, wouldn't they?" 

" It is not easy to tame them and make 



A QUEER SPECIMEN. 225 

them useful, but it seems that this has been 
done. They are only about half tame, 
though, at best; and a writer speaks of 
seeing one, when a boy, that was kept in 
a barn and would attack any one within 
reach that seemed to be afraid of it. The 
moose has sometimes been broken to the 
harness and made to draw heavy loads ; 
and were it not for the 'wicked disposition' 
which never seems to be subdued, it would 
prove a useful beast of burden in regions 
where there are heavy snows. As it is, 
this formidable animal is much more useful 
dead than it is when alive." 

15 




CHAPTER XL 

THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 

-ANOTHER very large deer," said Miss 
l\ Harson, " is the wapiti, or elk, which 
is next in size to the moose, it being over 
five feet high and often weighing a thou- 
sand pounds." 

"Why, Miss Harson!" exclaimed Clara, 
in a tone of awe ; " that's more than all of 
us put together/' 

" I hope so, dear," was the laughing 
reply, " with papa and John and Thomas 
and Kitty thrown in. But animals are al- 
ways heavier in proportion to their size than 
human beings, and the elk is by no means 
so large as all of us put together. It is a 
much handsomer animal than the moose, 
although, as a writer says, ' one is not 
struck with its beauty when it is listlessly 
standing in some retired shade quietly ru- 

226 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 22? 

minating ; but when awakened by excite- 
ment, it seems to change its form : anima- 
tion and expression pervade every feat- 
ure of the animal, and we are at once 
charmed by a beauty and a symmetry which 
before were entirely wanting. The spring 
coat in which this animal appears is very 
fine and glossy, of a deep cream-color, or 
ecru, with chestnut-brown on the legs, neck 
and head. It fairly glistens in the sunshine, 
but its appearance is often spoiled by the un- 
willingness of the old coat to give place to 
the new one. During the winter this old one 
gets so matted together that it is like a piece 
of thick felt, and, instead of dropping off, as it 
should do, it is torn away in great patches 
by the forest-twigs, and basketsful of it 
could be gathered in a small space. ' The 
contrast between the new spring dress 
which may perhaps appear on a part of 
the animal, and the other portions, which are 
covered with the shaggy and tattered winter 
dress hanging about in torn patches, some 
dangling a foot or two from the body, is in- 
deed quite remarkable. The one seems em- 
blematic of poverty and destitution, while 



228 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

the other looks like thrift and comfort. One 
appears like the fag-end of a hard winter, 
while the other suggests the freshness and 
the gayety of spring/ " 

" What very funny things animals do in 
the woods!" said Malcolm. "I think they 
might sometimes give a fellow a chance 
to see 'em when they are at some of their 
queer antics/' 

" They can scarcely be expected to give 
'a fellow' who is hundreds of miles away 
such a chance," replied his governess, " but 
the 'fellow' who wrote what I have just 
read you put himself in the way of seeing 
them by going where they were. Natural- 
ists discover a great many curious things 
of which the rest of the world know noth- 
ing. — In winter the color of the elk is a dirty 
white, with black underneath, and he is roy- 
ally crowned with magnificent branching 
antlers — ' the longest, most graceful and 
symmetrical antlers of all known deer/ 
They are also the most formidable as weap- 
ons and shields, and sometimes measure as 
much as five feet in length/' 

"Oh!" exclaimed the children, while 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 229 

Clara asked if that was not even worse 
than the moose. 

" They are certainly much longer/' con- 
tinued Miss Harson, "and the 'charge,' as 
it is called, of an elk when he makes a rush 
with his formidable antlers is a rather serious 
matter. It seems that, in moving, a herd 
of these animals ' will start at first quite 
leisurely ; presently one or two will strike 
a trot, when all will do so, except the young 
ones, which break into a run. The pace is 
increased by all till they reach a bluff or 
a ravine, when all break into a furious run 
and come thundering down the cliff like an 
avalanche. When you see forty or fifty 
elk, more than one-fourth of them having 
huge antlers, come rushing down toward 
you, you feel glad there is a good fence in 
front of you.' Some of them go very fast, 
although their usual gait is a trot ; and it is 
said that an elk will trot across an ordinary 
prairie at the rate of a mile in a little over 
three minutes." 

This was quite exciting to Malcolm, who 
seemed ready to go at once in quest of 
a prairie and an elk. 



23O SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" What does he eat, Miss Harson ?" asked 
Edith, remembering the moose. "Are there 
any pretty elk-berries?'' 

"No, dear," was the smiling reply; "I 
have never heard of any ; but here is some- 
thing that will tell us all about it: 'The 
wapiti deer selects his food from the trees 
and the shrubs, the grasses and the weeds, 
though he is not so fond of the latter as 
some of the others. Like several of the 
other species, he prefers the bitter and the 
astringent, like the hickory and the oak, 
to the hazel and the maple. He may often 
be seen standing erect on his hind feet, 
stretching his neck to the utmost to get a 
bunch of leaves nearly beyond his reach. 
In the winter he frequently pulls down the 
twigs bearing the dry oak-leaves, and eats 
them with apparent relish, though he is 
rarely seen to pick up those which have 
fallen after maturity. If deprived of arbore- 
ous' — ' tree ' or ' shrub ' — ' food, he will keep 
healthy and fat on grass alone. In winter 
he will scrape away deep snow with his feet 
to obtain the grass beneath it, and by some 
unexplained means seems always to select 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 23 1 

the best places/ These animals are great 
eaters, and are not at all particular about 
what they eat, according to those who have 
kept them in parks. They will live in win- 
ter on cornstalks, and will even eat dam- 
aged hay which horses and cows would re- 
fuse. They will not take the trouble to find 
food for themselves so long as anything to 
eat is put in their way. They like all kinds 
of grain, and an enormous ear of corn will 
be crunched up at once, cob and all." 

" Do they get real nice and tame like 
cows ?" asked Clara. 

11 Not exactly like cows, dear ; for when 
you hear of some of their ways, you will 
scarcely think them so gentle as that. 
When they are entirely dependent on 
being fed, they will come at the call of the 
person who feeds them ; but when fresh 
grass can be had, they are not so obedient. 
They are not pleasant-tempered animals, 
and a mother-elk will often treat a helpless 
little one not her own with great cruelty, 
sometimes killing it outright just because 
it happens to get in her way. But they 
are very careful of their own fawns, and 



232 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

will seldom allow them even to be looked 
at. A gentleman who had a herd of these 
animals says : ' 1 was once driving through 
the park, when we observed an old doe 
whose anxious look excited suspicion. We 
hitched the horses and commenced a search 
for a fawn ; at last we saw it curled up in 
the leaves, perhaps two hundred feet from 
the dam, who faced us all the while. When 
she saw we had discovered it and were 
going toward it, she uttered a succession 
of threatening squeals which sounded to 
us anything but musical, at the same time 
walking slowly toward us with a gleam of 
the eye and an air not to be mistaken. 
We did not count the spots on that fawn 
that day, but retreated in as good order as 
possible with our faces to the foe. My 
friend, who was not used to the animal, 
remarked while I was admonishing him to 
show no signs of fear, but to retire as if it 
was quite voluntary, " I would give a big 
check to be in that buggy now." Had we 
run from her, we might not have won the 
race without trouble/ Another doe be- 
longing to the same gentleman was much 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 233 

more tame, as it had often been fed from 
his hand ; and one day, when he found her 
carefully licking a young fawn, she seemed 
quite willing to have him pet it and lift it on 
its feet. She did not appear to think of 
such a thing as his hurting her baby, when 
he had always been so good to her, but 
stood looking on with great satisfaction. 
Yet the writer was obliged to add: 'But 
the amiable one was not always amiable, 
and not always to be trusted. I once came 
across her when rambling through the park 
with my little daughter. I left her feeding 
the elk and walked away, perhaps to pick 
some wild flower, and turned round just as 
the brute struck at the child. Fortunately, 
she was not quite in reach. I spoke to her 
in no very mild terms, and the blow was 
not repeated. There was manifested a 
disposition to strike the child simply be- 
cause she knew it was unable to protect 
itself.' " 

"Then," said Edith, with great indigna- 
tion, " elks are hateful, wicked things, and 
I don't want papa to have any at Elm- 
ridge. " 



234 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" I did not know that papa had any such 
idea," replied her governess, laughing, 
"and I certainly should not enjoy having 
them about these grounds. But we will 
not worry about it, Edie, for I feel quite 
sure that this trouble will be spared us." 

"It's so horrid,' , said Clara, "of the old 
does — or whatever they are — to hurt the 
poor little fawns ! They ought to be killed 
themselves." 

" I'd like to go after one of 'em," ex- 
claimed Malcolm, who was also indignant, 
" with my bow and arrows. I don't see why 
any one wants to keep such pets as those." 

" People certainly do have queer fancies 
in this respect," said Miss Harson, "and 
all vicious animals should certainly be 
killed. But I believe that the naturalist 
who kept these elk particularly wished to 
study their habits. Some others of the 
herd were so ferocious that they could not 
with safety be approached at any time." 

"Are the little fawns pretty?" asked 
Clara. 

"Their heads and faces are," was the reply, 
" and they have very neat little hoofs ; but 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 235 

their legs are as long in proportion to the 
body as those of a young calf, and this 
gives them an awkward look. They are 
prettier when they are lying down, and a 
little curled-up fawn on a heap of leaves 
is certainly very 'cunning/ But — would 
you believe it? — these little creatures, when 
only a few hours old, will ' make believe dead ' 
if any one goes near them. The funniest 
part of it is that they do not seem to know 
enough to shut their eyes, but they are as 
still as possible. The same naturalist says: 
1 They lie without a motion ; and if you 
pick them up, they are as limp as a wet 
rag, the head and limbs hanging down 
without the least muscular action, the bright 
eye fairly sparkling all the time. The first 
I saw really deceived me, for I thought it 
had met with some accident by which it 
was completely paralyzed, and I returned 
the next day expecting to find it dead. It 
was gone, and soon afterward I found it 
following its dam in as sprightly a manner 
as possible. Last spring I found one, 
picked it up, carried it some distance and 
laid it down, and watched for a while. 



236 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

But not the least sign of life would it mani- 
fest, save only in the bright eye.' " 

The children were wonderfully amused 
with this account, and Edith felt "so sorry 
that the poor little fawn would forget to 
shut its eyes." Animals were certainly 
getting funnier and funnier. 

" The same thing is done by Papa Elk 
and Mamma Elk/' continued the young 
lady, "only in a different way; and you 
will see that there is great danger in hunt- 
ing this animal. Here is an account of a 
hunter who fired at one that was stand- 
ing on a ledge of rock overhanging a deep 
pool and about thirty feet above the water. 
The deer dropped, and the hunter hastened 
to secure his prey. He grasped it by the 
horns, and was just about to make sure of 
it with his knife, when the animal suddenly 
sprang up and began a ferocious attack 
upon him, evidently intending to drive him 
into the water. The elk had made such a 
powerful spring that both tumbled from 
the rock together and into the pool be- 
low. The fallen hunter now cared for nothing 
but to gain the bank again, and the animal, 



THE WAPITI, OR ELK. 237 

too, had evidently not calculated upon a 
ducking for himself. As the man reached 
the shore his prey was just disappearing in 
the distance, but some time afterward he 
shot a deer which from the scar of a wound 
in its neck he recognized as his former as- 
sailant." 

" He must have been glad," said Mal- 
colm, " to finish him at last, after having 
been knocked into the water by him. ,, 

" I have no doubt he was glad," replied 
Miss Harson, " for such is human nature ; 
but the elk was, after all, only trying to pre- 
serve his own life. He did not make the 
attack. This animal has also another kind of 
cunning, which is practiced for its preserva- 
tion, and that is to hide itself among sur- 
roundings that are very nearly its own col- 
or. It often escapes in this way, for it is 
said that only an experienced hunter can 
see where it is lying, even when the exact 
spot is pointed out. Elk are most easily 
secured by watching for them near the salt 
marshes, or ■ licks/ where they go in great 
numbers to satisfy their craving for salt 
kinds of food. The hunters conceal them- 



238 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

selves near the salt-licks, and by watching 
their chances kill great numbers of the deer 
as they pass to and fro." 

" What do they do with them after they 
are killed ?" asked Clara. 

" The skin is valuable, as it makes soft 
leather, and the antlers are ornamental ; 
but the flesh is coarse, and the tongue is 
the only part that can be called good eat- 
ing." 



CHAPTER XII. 

HANDSOME RELATIONS. 

MISS HARSON had taken a large en- 
graving from the portfolio in the par- 
lor, and was showing it to her little charges. 
The picture was called "The Stag at Bay," 
and the children were full of pity for the 
beautiful animal that stood partly in the 
water, panting and trembling and foaming 
at the mouth, beset by two fierce-looking 
dogs, one of which he had felled to the 
ground and wounded, if not killed, with 
hoofs and antlers, while the other showed 
his cruel fangs and did not seem inclined to 
approach any closer. 

" Miss Harson," asked Malcolm, " what 
does 'at bay' mean?" 

" It means," replied his governess, " hem- 
med in so that it is impossible to escape, 
and yet resolved to fight to the very end. 

239 



24O SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

This noble animal will sell his life as dearly 
as possible, and perhaps will kill the other 
dog too before the hunters, who are not far 
off, come up and despatch him/' 

" How wicked that is !" exclaimed Clara, 
indignantly. 

"It certainly is wicked/' continued the 
young lady, "to put an end to any creat- 
ure's life merely for the pleasure of the 
sport. But this is not always the case, as 
the red deer, or stag, of Europe and our 
own American deer are good eating-. The 
animal in the picture is one of the former 
kind, and the scene is among the wild ' lochs' 
of Scotland. These lochs are sheets of 
water surrounded by steep hills, and such 
a region is a favorite resort of deer. It is, 
as you see, a very pretty animal with a 
small nose and mouth, and with ornament- 
al branching horns not unlike those of the 
wapiti. These horns can do a terrible 
amount of mischief when the animal is 
brought to bay, as during a chase one deer 
has frequently killed several dogs, and has 
threatened the hunters besides. These 
animals are of a reddish-gray color and 



HANDSOME RELATIONS. 24 1 

only about half the size of the elk, although 
some of them are as large as a small elk. 
The size varies almost as much as in human 
beings. The common deer of this country 
are still smaller, and are really another spe- 
cies ; but they are alike in so many things 
that it is not necessary in our simple talks 
to take them up separately. Both are very 
shy, yet both can be tamed ; and if cap- 
tured when very young, they become con- 
tented and affectionate." 

11 Do they fight like the moose and the 
elk?" asked Malcolm, who never was will- 
ing to miss a chance for hearing accounts 
of battles. 

"They certainly fight," was the reply, 
" for all deer do that, but their battles are 
not so fierce. I do not mind treating you 
to a story of one, Malcolm, as it is not a 
bloodthirsty one, and the account is just 
where I can lay my finger on it. Two large 
bucks, it seems, were kept in adjoining 
parks, and ' after their antlers had become 
hard they occasionally saw each other on 
opposite sides of the fence, when they 
would make faces at each other, with vari- 

16 



242 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

ous threatening demonstrations, showing 
that both were ready for the fray/' 

That deer should actually " make faces at 
each other" was perfectly delightful, only 
it did seem too bad to the children that 
they were not there to see. 

" One day the owner of the two parks 
ordered the passage between them to be 
opened, and the result was a terrific fight. 
4 The battle was joined by a rush together 
like rams, their faces bowed down nearly 
to a level with the ground, when the clash 
of horns could have been heard at a great 
distance ; yet they did not again fall back 
to repeat the shock, as is usual with rams, 
but the battle was continued by pushing, 
guarding and attempting to break each oth- 
er's guard, and by goading whenever a 
chance could be gotten, which was very rare. 
It was a trial of strength and endurance 
assisted by skill in fencing and by activity. 
The contest lasted for two hours without 
the animals once being separated ; during it 
they fought over perhaps half an acre of 
ground. Almost from the beginning both 
fought with their mouths open. So evenly 



HANDSOME RELATIONS. 243 

matched were they that both were nearly 
exhausted, when one suddenly turned tail 
and fled: his adversary pursued him but a 
little way. I could not find a scratch upon 
either sufficient to scrape off the hair, and 
the only punishment suffered was fatigue 
and a consciousness of defeat by the van- 
quished.' M 

" What do they want to fight for, Miss 
Harson ?" asked Clara. 

" A pleasant little habit they have ' to de- 
cide which is the better deer ;' and if they 
happen to be separated for some time, a 
fresh battle is necessary before one will 
acknowledge the superiority of the other. 
It does not matter so much when they don't 
get hurt, but it must be quite absurd to see 
one of these encounters. Animals certainly 
are very funny and much more interesting 
than those who know little about them 
would suppose." 

" Miss Harson," said Edith, who was 
looking at the stag in the picture, " will not 
this poor deer get drowned in the water?" 

" No, Edie, for the deer can swim, and 
taking to the water is often his only chance 



244 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

for life. I have been reading an account 
of a splendid deer pursued by a pack of 
wolves; it was seen by some hunters and 
their Indian guide to dash from a thicket 
into some shallow water covered with lily- 
pads and rush through it, but more slowly 
as the water deepened. ' When he reached 
the edge of the lily-pads and the deep clear 
water was right before him, he stopped short, 
threw high his head, displaying to the best 
advantage his great branching antlers, and 
looked back and listened at the yelping 
of his pursuers. There stood the mon- 
arch of the forest in the border of the quiet 
lake, where the deep solitude is rarely bro- 
ken by invading man, not dreaming there 
were enemies before him more dangerous 
than those behind, of escape from which he 
now felt assured/ " 

" Oh what a shame ! Didn't the poor 
deer get off, after all ?'' 

" No ; the noble animal dropped into the 
deep water and swam directly toward his 
human enemies, who were in a canoe. 
Presently the deer discovered them, and, 
turning again to the shore, ' swam like a 



246 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

racehorse.' The canoe, guided by the In- 
dian, flew through the water all around the 
deer to prevent his escape. He was finally 
shot and dragged to the hunting-camp on 
shore. 'It was slow work/ says the hunter 
who shot the splendid animal, * towing the 
deer through the lily-pads, which extended 
out for fifty yards or more. Before we 
landed the three Indians on shore rushed 
into the water, seized and dragged the deer 
to the bank. He must have been a great 
warrior, for all the points on his antlers 
were broken off. He was a big deer, and 
was a beautiful sight as he lay there upon 
the green grass/ Here is an interesting 
picture of a beautiful stag chased by wolves. 
He is a pitiable object to look upon. See 
how every muscle is strained in flight ! His 
tongue hangs from his panting mouth, and 
his knees are bent for one frantic spring, in 
the vain hope of eluding his terrible pur- 
suers. But it is of no use : their sharp 
fangs will soon sink into the poor stag's 
flesh. Indeed, one of them has already 
seized him by one of his flanks/' 

"I suppose/' said Malcolm, "that the 



HANDSOME RELATIONS. 247 

people who first came to this country had 
to kill deer and such things to eat, didn't 
they, Miss Harson ?" 

"Yes," replied his governess ; "the first 
white settlers, and the Indians, or aborigines, 
before them, had largely to depend for 
food on what they could catch and kill in 
the forests and the streams around them. 
A deer in those days was a great prize, 
and both Indians and white men became 
quite expert in hunting this animal. One 
of their methods — still in use — was called 
the fire-hunt. This took place at night, 
when the deer is apt to be roving about 
'in the farmers' grainfields, around salt- 
licks or alone the margins of rivers/ Gen- 
erally two persons go upon a hunt of this 
kind ; one of them carries a torch of pitch- 
pine above his head, while the other, with 
the gun, walks in front or behind. They 
must proceed with great care and watchful- 
ness and without making the least noise. 
1 The deer sees the light slowly approach- 
ing and is rather fascinated than alarmed 
by it, and so he faces and stares at it 
in wonderment, when his eyes act as mir- 



248 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

rors and reflect back the light, and appear 
to the hunters as two great stars — or, as 
they sometimes express it, like two balls of 
fire set in nothing but darkness ; but neither 
of these expressions gives a correct idea 
of the appearance of the light reflected by 
the animal's eye. The radiation of the 
star is not seen, and the light is white in- 
stead of being the red light of fire. Noth- 
ing else of the deer is seen/ The poor 
animal is, of course, shot as soon as the 
hunters are near enough to shoot him ; 
and if no noise has been made, the deer 
seems unable to move, owing to the fasci- 
nation of the light. Another trick with 
Indian hunters was to dress in the skin of 
a deer, with head, antlers and all, and 
then, closely imitating the motions of the 
animal when feeding, to get among a herd 
and select a fat prize." 

"I shouldn't think there would be any 
deer left," said Clara, "when people have 
so many ways of killing em/' 

" The herds have been very much thinned 
out," was the reply, "and entirely banished 
from places where they used to roam ; but 



HANDSOME RELATIONS. 249 

there are still a goodly number left. One 
does not often see them here as tame as 
they are in some English parks, where the 
beautiful fallow-deer wander about or lie 
down in groups under the shade of the 
trees. They are usually very gentle, and 
will come and eat food from a person's 
hand ; but occasionally there is a violent 
one who will attack those whose appear- 
ance he does not like. An account is 
given of ' a gentleman, an amateur in land- 
scape-drawing, who had ventured into a 
park heedless of danger, and was engaged 
in sketching, when a deer saw him and 
charged full upon him. Down went his 
pencils and his papers, and he was only 
too happy to escape the animal's fury with 
the loss of his drawings. The creature's 
assault had a beneficial effect, for it taught 
this draughtsman an art of which he had 
thought himself ignorant. Hearing the 
animal close behind him, he seized a branch 
that hung overhead and curled himself into 
the tree with an activity that could be ex- 
pected only from one versed in the practice 
of gymnastics.' " 



250 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"Wasn't he surprised ?" asked Edith, in 
such an innocent way that the others 
thought her question quite as funny as the 
story. 

" He certainly was, dear," was the laugh- 
ing answer, "and I do not believe that he 
ever again went into a park to draw with- 
out being quite sure that there was no 
danger of meeting a deer. There is an- 
other story of tame stags, where the ani- 
mals themselves were most unexpectedly 
chased. An English nobleman had trained 
four stags to draw a chariot, and was very 
proud of his curious steeds ; but once the 
whole equipage came near being destroyed. 
* The nobleman was driving to Newmarket, 
when the cry of a pack of hounds burst 
upon his ear. Unfortunately, the hounds 
came across the road over which the four 
stags had just passed. The hounds im- 
mediately changed their course and set 
off at full speed after the stags, whose scent 
was too great a temptation to be resisted. 
The stags, on hearing the cry of the dogs, 
bounded off at their swiftest pace, in spite 
of the efforts of the driver and the mounted 






HANDSOME RELATIONS. 25 I 

grooms who always accompanied the equi- 
page. The pace grew more and more 
furious on the part of pursuers and pur- 
sued, and the driver began to fear for the 
safety of his vehicle and himself, when he 
bethought himself of an inn at Newmarket 
where he had been in the habit of stabling 
his horned steeds. To this inn he directed 
all his efforts, and fortunately succeeded in 
getting his vehicle within the gates. The 
stags were now overpowered by the united 
force of hostler and stable-boys, and the 
whole party — stags, vehicle and driver — 
were thrust into a barn and the door shut 
just as the hounds entered the innyard/ ' 

"Do you think, Miss Harson," asked 
Clara, in some anxiety, " that any dogs 
would be likely to run after Prance and 
Caper when we are driving .them ?" 

"Why, no, little girlie. Dogs are not 
trained to chase goats, but it is the espe- 
cial business of hounds to go in pursuit 
of deer; so you must not think of ask- 
ing papa for a deer-carriage. " 

There was not much danger that either 
of the little sisters w r ould want such a 



252 SOME USEFLL ANIMALS. 

present as this, but Malcolm appeared to 
think that it would be a fine thing to drive 
a pair of stags in harness. Miss Harson 
said that he could not be allowed such a team 
unless he would agree to take four, and 
here for the present the matter dropped. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DEAR LITTLE DEER. 

MISS H ARSON," said Clara, "I 
haven't found anything about deer 
in the Bible, but I looked all over for 'em." 

Malcolm had the same report to make, 
and their governess said that she was not 
at all surprised. 

"You did not find them," continued the 
young lady, smiling, " for the best of rea- 
sons, because they are not there — at least, 
not under that name ; but there are places 
where the hart and hind and roebuck are 
mentioned, and the hind is supposed to be 
the same as the fallow-deer of English 
parks. ' As far as can be ascertained/ says 
a writer on Bible subjects, 'at least two 
kinds of deer inhabited Palestine in the 
earlier days of the Jewish history, one be- 
longing to the division which is known by 

253 



254 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

its branched horns, and the other to that in 
which the horns are flat or palmated over 
the tips/ The hind is first mentioned in 
Genesis, forty-ninth chapter, twenty-first 
verse, where Jacob blesses his sons and 
says, * Naphtali is a hind let loose/ " 

" I wish I had known that," said Clara, 
11 for then I could easily have found the 
places." 

"And had I known that you were looking 
for them, dear," replied Miss Harson, " I 
could have helped you, but I see that you 
wished to surprise me. You shall find 
some of the places now, if you like — both 
of you — and first turn to the First Book 
of Kings, the twenty-second and twenty- 
third verses of the fourth chapter." 

The little girl wondered as she began 
the twenty-second verse, but she read very 
reverently : 

" 'And Solomon's provision for one day 
was thirty measures of fine flour, and three- 
score measures of meal, ten fat oxen and 
twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an 
hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, 
and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl/ " 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 255 

"Miss Harson," asked Edith, very sol- 
emnly, "was King Solomon a giant?" 

" Why, no, dear child. What ever put 
such an idea into your little head?" 




ROEBUCK. 



"Then," continued the puzzled speaker, 
"how could he eat all those things in one 
day?" 

The young governess was as much 
amused at little Edith's mistake as were 
her two older pupils, but she answered very 
kindly : 

" These things, pet, were intended to feed 
an immense household — as many people as 
would fill a village ; so you see that it was 



256 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

not really so much as it sounds. And now 
see what a mistake I have made. I told 
Clara that deer were not mentioned in the 
Bible except under other names, and here 
are ' fallow-deer ' as well as * harts ' and 
i roebucks.' To think that I should never 
have seen it before !" 

It was Clara's private opinion — in which 
the others fully joined — that Miss Harson 
was "just too sweet for anything/' and she 
was obliged now to express this opinion by 
what the young lady called "her bear's 
hug." When order was restored, Miss 
Harson continued : 

" There are several verses in which 
'hinds' feet' are mentioned as emblems of 
speed and agility, and we read, ' Then shall 
the lame man leap as an hart,' * while 
King David says, ' He maketh my feet like 
hinds' feet.' There is that beautiful verse 
in the forty-second psalm : * As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth 
my soul after thee, O God !' Another verse 
in regard to the hind is found in Jeremiah : 
' Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and 

* Isa. xxxv. 6. 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 2$? 

forsook it because there was no grass.' * 
This was part of a prophecy of a terrible 
state of things ; for the deer always pro- 
vides for a retired, protected place for her 
fawn, and instead of leaving it she will de- 




fend it with her life. She seems to teach 
it also to protect itself by pretending to 
be dead, of which I have spoken of before. 
A writer who has closely noticed these ani- 
mals says : ' One day some time ago I was 
watching with my glass a red-deer hind 
whose proceedings I did not understand 
till I saw that she was engaged j n Hckinof a 

*Jer. xiv. 5. 
17 



258 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

newly-born calf. I walked up to the place, 
and as soon as the old deer saw me she 
gave the young one a slight tap with her 
hoof. The little creature immediately laid 
itself down ; and when I came up, I found 
it lying with its head flat upon the ground, 
its ears closely laid back, and with all the 
attempts at concealment that one sees in 
animals which have passed an apprentice- 
ship of some years to danger, whereas it 
had evidently not known the world for 
more than an hour, being unable to run or 
escape. I lifted up the little creature, being 
half inclined to carry it home in order to 
rear it. The mother stood at a distance 
of two hundred yards, stamping with her 
foot/ " 

" I s'pose she was scolding about it, 
wasn't she ?" asked Edith. 

"Yes, dear; and when the gentleman 
put the little fawn on the ground again, the 
deer trotted up to it with evident delight, 
and licked it all over again to be quite sure 
that her precious child had not been hurt 
by the terrible creature who had been hand- 
ling it. At any other time she would have 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 259 

run away from him, but she could not leave 
her baby." 

The children pronounced this " a dear 
little story," but their governess puzzled 
them for a few moments by saying that 
she called it a little-deer story. 

"I wonder," said Clara, "if the little 
fawns care as much for their mothers as 
the mothers do for them ?" 

" Only while they are unable to protect 
themselves, I am afraid," was the reply. 
" I have read somewhere that a buck of a 
year old does not even seem to know his 
mother. A very young one, however, often 
shows a strong affection, and they are such 
pretty, graceful little creatures that it is 
very interesting to watch them. One of 
our naturalists says again: 'The highest 
perfection of graceful motion is seen in 
the fawn of but a month or two old after 
it has commenced following its mother 
through the grounds. It is naturally very 
timid, and is alarmed at the sight of man ; 
and when it sees its dam go boldly up to 
him and take food from his hand, it mani- 
fests both apprehension and surprise, and 



260 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

sometimes something akin to displeasure. 
I have seen one standing a few rods away 
face me boldly and stamp his little foot in a 
fierce and threatening way, as if he would 
say, " If you hurt my mother, I will avenge 
the insult on the spot." Ordinarily it will 
stand with its head elevated to the utmost, 
its ears erect and projecting somewhat for- 
ward, its eyes flashing, and raise one fore 
foot and suspend it for a few moments, and 
then trot off and around at a safe distance 
with a measured pace which is not flight, 
and with a grace and elasticity which must 
be seen to be appreciated. A foot is raised 
from the ground so quickly that you hardly 
see it ; it seems poised in the air for an in- 
stant, and is then so quickly dropped, and 
again so instantly raised, that you are in 
doubt whether it even touched the ground ; 
and if it did, you are sure it would not 
crush the violet on which it fell. The 
bound also is exceedingly graceful.' ' 

Clara was particularly delighted with this 
description, and all the children appeared 
to think that they could scarcely be happy 
again without seeing a little fawn. 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 



26l 




DEAR LITTLE DEER. 



44 How would you like," asked their 
governess, " to hear about two pet fawns 
which some one else saw ? I know you 
all like to hear stories." 



262 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"Is it a real, true story?" asked Edith, 
with a happy little wriggle. 

"Did you see the fawns, Miss Harson ?" 
asked Malcolm. 

" Is it one of your own stories, Miss 
Harson ?" added Clara, as though she would 
not care much about it if it were not. 

" * Yes/ to everything," replied the young 
lady, laughing. " And if you are satisfied, 
I shall proceed to tell you about them." 

Miss Harson then related the story of 

NANNY AND BILLY. 

The names sound like goats', I know; 
but the animals were really fawns, and just 
about as pretty as they could be. They 
were born among the mountains in Ken- 
tucky, and one day, when they w r ere about 
a month old, a hunter shot the mother-deer, 
and was just slinging her over his shoulder 
to carry her away to his cabin when he heard 
a sort of patter as of little feet, and, look- 
ing around, there were two young fawns, 
the very prettiest he had ever seen, with 
such soft, bright eyes and glossy coats of 
light reddish-brown thickly marked with 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 263 

white spots, while underneath the color 
was all white. 

''You beauties !" exclaimed the man as 
soon as he saw them ; and the little creat- 
ures stood there looking at him as though 
they expected to be carried away with their 
mother. He felt sorry now that he had 
shot her, although it was done for the sake 
of the meat, which he really needed, and, 
as his cabin was some distance off, he 
could not for a moment think just what 
he had better do. It would not be safe to 
leave either the dead deer or the live fawns 
for a second trip, as the deer would prob- 
ably be seized by animals or men, and the 
fawns, if not captured, would run away ; 
yet how could he carry all at once? He 
plunged his hands into his pockets, scarce- 
ly hoping to find a thin, stout rope which 
he sometimes carried with him ; yet he did 
find it, and, tying this securely around the 
head of the deer, he dragged the dead 
animal along by it and carried the babies 
in his arms. His gun he had managed to 
fasten on the deer, and some bright animal- 
eyes that peered out at him from holes and 



264 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

bushes as he passed along probably told 
the brains belonging to them that it was the 
funniest procession they had ever seen. 

It was a tired hunter that reached the 
lonely cabin as the sun was setting, and 
even then he had plenty to do. The dead 
deer had to be attended to, that the flesh 
might be preserved for eating, and, as for 
those " little midgets,'' as the man called 
the fawns, they were as much trouble as 
real children. They did not seem to want 
to run away, but after they had had all the 
milk they would drink, and had been tuck- 
ed comfortably into bed on a nice mattress 
of boughs and leaves, what did they do 
but get up in the middle of the night, 
when the hunter was asleep, and go patter- 
ing about to explore the cabin ? You see, 
deer are accustomed to trotting about at 
night in a very dissipated way — it seems to 
be born with them — and they are, besides, 
very curious. This inquisitiveness often 
costs them their lives. The hunter woke 
from a queer dream about being upset, to 
find those two little objects pushing at him 
with their heads to see what he was made 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 265 

of, and he had to get up and put them 
back in their nest, and pile boxes around, 
so that they could not get out again. 

The next day the man nailed some slats 
across the largest of these boxes, in which 
the fawns could be comfortably carried, and 
he took them away in a wagon to the near- 
est town. 

Just on the outskirts of this town there 
was a very pleasant home with large 
grounds about it, some parts of which were 
almost like real woods, and wide windows 
to the house, and two or three verandas. 
Ezra Trail, the hunter, knew the place very 
well, for he had been there before. It 
belonged to Judge Dunleath, and Ezra also 
knew that little Miss Cara, the judge's 
only daughter, was the very apple of his 
eye, and that he refused her nothing. All 
that was necessary was to bring Miss Cara 
and the fawns together — for the fourteen- 
year-old girl was passionately fond of pets 
— and the hunter s errand would be accom- 
plished. 

" I wonder what Ezra's bringing now ?" 
said pretty Cara, rather indolently, as she 



266 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

stood in one of the large windows and 
watched the grizzled-looking hunter as he 
" toted " along his box. 

Miss Dunleath, Cara's aunt, a dignified 
lady of middle age, had just looked up 
from her embroidery at the question, when 
there was a sudden delighted squeal — for 
it could not be called anything else — and 
the excited little girl had bounded out on 
the veranda. Cunning Ezra had taken the 
fawns from their prison and put them down 
near the window. They were too surprised 
to move, and Cara pounced upon them 
with " Oh, you darlings !" 

At that moment Judge Dunleath ap- 
peared in sight, and Cara's frantic " Papa ! 
Oh, papa ! Please buy these dear little 
fawns for me !" speedily resulted in the 
transfer of a crisp greenback to the hun- 
ter's greasy pocketbook, and of the fawns 
to Cara's rapturous embrace. 

" Do not kill them with love, Cara," said 
her father, laughing, " if they are perfect 
little beauties." 

What lovely little pets the fawns were ! 
and how they seemed to grow from day to 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 267 

day ! They were very gentle, Nannie es- 
pecially, while Billy, who was more mis- 
chievous, delighted in cutting up the fun- 
niest little antics. 

But Miss Dunleath did not think Billy 
altogether lovely, for one day, when she was 
stroking his back, he reared up suddenly 
and moved away from her with something 
like a flash in his eye which quite startled 
the good lady. Young Mr. Deer did not 
object to being stroked on his face or head, 
but he plainly resented the touch of a hand 
back of his shoulders. Dear little Nannie 
could be stroked anywhere, and Cara was 
in the habit of saying that " that child was 
a great comfort" to her. 

They really seemed like children, those 
little forest-waifs, and every movement 
was so pretty that it was a pleasure to 
watch them. They wandered about as 
they pleased, and the " pat, pat" of tiny 
hoofs on the veranda usually announced 
that Nannie w r as coming to get a drink 
of water out of her mistress's wash-basin — 
the only way in which she would take it. 
Billy was not so particular ; when he was 



268 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

thirsty, he would drink wherever he could 
find water, and, as for eating, it might be 
charitable to say that he was fond of ex- 
periments. One day he was found trying 
to chew up a small tin plate on which his 
food had been placed, and not long after- 
ward Judge Dunleath took the chain of his 
handsome gold repeater from the little 
scamp's mouth. It had been left on a 
table where Billy could reach it, and he 
wished to know if it tasted as good as it 
looked. 

" But he's so cunning, papa!" pleaded 
Cara, hugging the little sinner up close ; 
and then Billy would lick her face and 
hands and look so pitiful with his great 
brown eyes ! 

What good times the little brother and 
sister seemed to have racing about among 
the trees and rocks, chasing and tumbling 
over each other, and never seeming to get 
hurt in their wildest play ! It appeared 
wonderful that those little slender legs did 
not break in two when so much scampering 
was done on them, but the fawns flourished 
and grew larger and fatter. 






DEAR LITTLE DEER. 269 

One day, though, something very sad 
happened : poor little Nannie was found 
lying beneath a ledge of rock with one of 
her fore legs doubled under her, and she 
moaned when they tried to move her. 
Her young mistress was nearly beside 
herself with grief, but she had a clear little 
head of her own, and she sent a colored 
boy at once for the kind doctor who had 
known her ever since she was a baby, and 
fortunately he was at home. He seemed 
as much interested in the little suffering 
animal as was Cara herself, but he looked 
rather serious over the poor slender leg 
that was badly broken and only hanging 
on by a piece of skin. 

" Oh, doctor/' said Cara, with quivering 
lip, "must dear little Nannie die? Can't 
you tie that poor little leg together some- 
how?" 

"Are you a brave girl ?" asked Dr. Still, 
with a searching glance. "Will you stop 
crying and help me ? — that is, unless you 
want some one else to care for Nannie. 
Perhaps your aunt will do it?" 

"Yes, indeed, Cara," said Miss Dun- 



27O SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

leath, kindly. "Run into the house, child ; 
this is no place for you." 

"Thank you very much, Aunt Eleanor," 
replied the little girl, with quite a womanly 
air, "but Nannie is my pet, you know, and 
I should like so much to do everything 
myself." 

"Go into the house, all of you," said the 
doctor, with playful command, " and leave 
Cara and me here just to our own two 
selves. Let some one bring me out some 
thick starch and a long, narrow strip of 
cotton-cloth." 

Cara wondered if the leg was to be stuck 
together with starch, but the doctor did 
nothing of the kind. Very tenderly and 
carefully he drew the two parts together, 
using thin strips of pasteboard for splints, 
and then bound them firmly with the long 
band dipped in starch and wound round 
and round. When this starch dried, the 
leg seemed to be encased in a thin board, 
and there was no danger of its getting out 
of place. It was quite touching to see how 
still and good Nannie was through all this 
painful work, as if she knew that they were 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 2JI 

going to make her poor little leg well 
again, while Billy stood pondering the 
matter with an air of great perplexity. 

When everything was finished, Cara 
looked very pale and trembling ; but Dr. 
Still patted her cheek and said, 

" You have been such a brave little wom- 
an that you are not going to give way now ? 
Nannie is doing splendidly, and there is 
every reason to suppose that with care 
her leg will get as well as ever. Whatever 
possessed the silly, pretty little creature to 
go and break it ?" 

Then Billy edged up and concluded to 
take it out in licking Nannie's head and 
then Cara's — a practice to which he was 
much given, but which his little mistress 
did not enjoy so well as he did. In his ex- 
uberant affection he even tried to get at the 
doctor; but that gentleman threatened to 
put a pill down his throat if he persisted in 
running at him with his mouth open, and 
Billy finally retired. 

A cozy nest was made up for the little 
sufferer in a large basket, which was placed 
in Miss Cara's room, and she was fed with 



272 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS, 

the daintiest things imaginable. Dr. Still 
looked in upon her once or twice and said 
that " his leg was doing well," but Cara 
thought it would be a very ridiculous leg 
for so large a man. 

After a while the little fawn began to go 
about again with her injured leg still in the 
starched bandage, and it was interesting to 
see her managing so well on three legs, 
keeping the other one up out of harm's 
way. Cara had only to call, " Nan-nie ! Oh, 
Nannie !" when up the little thing would 
trot on her three legs, though not so fast 
as she did on four. But she was very play- 
ful, and did not seem to suffer much with 
it ; so there was every prospect of Nannie's 
growing up into a large deer. Cara would 
have preferred to keep her pet always little, 
just as Aunt Eleanor said the other people 
at home wanted to keep a certain baby who 
would grow into a great girl. 

I can scarcely bear to tell you of one 
dreadful night when a neighbor stopped 
and said that some sheepdogs were chas- 
ing the fawns ; and when every one turned 
out and drove off the malicious brutes, Bil- 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 273 

ly could not be found, but poor little Nan- 
nie was lying at the foot of a tree panting 
and bleeding and almost dead. There was 
a dreadful wound in her side, for, with her 
lame leg", she could not run fast enough to 
get away from the savage dogs ; but Billy 
had made good his escape. 

Again Dr. Still was sent for, and again 
Cara cried bitterly over her pet ; but there 
was less hope this time, for the doctor said 
that, although Nannie might recover from the 
wounds made by the dogs' fangs, she could 
scarcely get over the terrible fright. Cara 
held her pet tenderly while the hurt was 
being dressed, and would let no one do 
anything for it that she could do herself. 

But, in spite of every care, the little fawn 
never moved again, and died the next day. 
They buried her just where she was found, 
and as Cara was stooping over the little 
mound that covered her lost pet she felt a 
wet touch on her head and face that start- 
led her, it was so like Nannie. It was only 
Nannie's brother, who had wandered back 
again and seemed to want all the love that 
could possibly be spared for him. He was 

18 



274 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

so lonely, poor little fellow ! and Cara de- 
clared that if he was only a deer he missed 
his playmate and needed an extra share of 
petting ; so, in spite of losing Nannie, he 
seemed to have a very good time, and 
played about from morning till night, scam- 
pering over every obstacle and often rush- 
ing like the wind after nothing in particular. 
His michievous pranks, however, did not 
always please, and especially his trick of 
nibbling at everything to see if it was good 
to eat. 

One fine day Master Billy set off to ex- 
plore a field of cabbages, and nipped the 
tender white heart from every single head. 
This was bad enough for one day, but Billy 
did not seem to think it sufficient ; for in the 
afternoon he rushed at Miss Dunleath with 
his head to the ground, quite like a grown- 
up deer, and knocked her down on the 
gravel-walk. Her arm was considerably 
bruised and she was very much frightened. 
This led to the discovery that Billy's antlers 
were growing, and that he was getting quite 
too large and strong for a pet ; so a gentle- 
man who lived a few miles off took the fawn 



DEAR LITTLE DEER. 2J$ 

to a large park that he had to keep com- 
pany with a beautiful greyhound, the two 
animals, different as they were, soon became 
the best of friends. 

Cara felt quite unhappy at parting with 
Billy, but she mourned Nannie more, be- 
cause, as she said, " Billy was alive and safe, 
but Nannie was gone for ever, and she was 
such a darling r 

" Do you know, Cara," said the good 
doctor to her one day, " I think that little 
fawn has taught you a great deal ? You 
overcame your own feelings to minister to 
her sufferings, and showed that you cou'd 
be both firm and courageous. Do not let it 
stop there, but imitate the example of Him 
who went about doing good, and learn to 
be a ministering anoel wherever there is 
suffering to be found in any shape/' 

When Miss Harson had finished this story, 
she was almost sorry that she had told it. 
Clara and Edith were both in tears " for that 
dear little Nannie," and Malcolm's eyes 
looked very suspicious as he expressed a 
frantic desire to own Billy. 



276 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" Why, he is a great antlered deer by 
this time, if he is alive at all," replied his 
governess, "and not the sort of pet that 
we should care to have at Elmridge." 

"And did you really see them both, Miss 
Harson ?" asked Clara as she tried hard to 
stop crying. 

" Yes, dear, I saw them soon after they 
arrived, for my mother took me to Judge 
Dunleath's on a short visit. I was quite a 
tiny girl then, several years younger than 
Cara, and I looked at the fawns with great 
curiosity, but did not care about touching 
them. Some day, however, I think I must 
have a pair of my own, and I should not 
wonder if I kept them loose at Elmridge." 

This caused the wildest excitement, which 
was quenched only by the stern approach 
of bedtime. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 

NOW," said Miss Harson the next 
evening, " you all know that the 
animals we have lately been talking about 
are useful animals — animals which man 
has brought into subjection and taught to 
lighten his labors. We have not yet quite 
finished with this class, and I should like 
to have you put on your thinking-caps and 
see if you can find any more." 

"I know one," exclaimed Edith, with 
great satisfaction. "Monkeys are useful, be- 
cause they go around with hand-organs 
and get pennies in their caps." 

"That is very true, dear," replied her 
governess, smiling: "they are useful in 
that way ; but no one ever rides monkeys, 
you see, or makes them carry burdens." 

" Is it a very big animal, Miss Harson ?" 

277 



27 S SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

asked Malcolm, with a look of great in- 
telligence. 

" It is not a dwarf, certainly, although 
some of the species are larger than others. " 

"And hasn't he a pretty big name?" con- 
tinued the young gentleman, who was 
quite proud of his discovery. "And doesn't 
it sound very much like 'elephant' ?" 

"It certainly does," said Miss Harson ; 
" and I suppose that it is because he is such 
a great creature altogether it has taken so 
much time to get to him. Let us proceed, 
then, to become intimately acquainted with 
the elephant." 

" Why, I thought," said Clara, " that ele- 
phants were wild animals, and that people 
didn't do anything with 'em but to have 
'em in menageries?" 

"They are not used in this country, 
Clara, for much else, but in the warm 
regions where they are found they are 
more valuable than even the camel for 
some purposes. They are wonderfully 
intelligent and interesting animals, and all 
the information that we can get about 
them is fairly honeycombed with stories." 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 279 

This was a delightful prospect, and the 
little Kyles hoped that in proportion the 
" talk " would be as laro-e as the size of 
'the animal. 

"It cannot possibly be a small one," was 
i the laughing reply, " and, although the ele- 
phant does not properly belong with 
donkeys and mules and camels and rein- 
deer, I have thought it better for my pur- 
pose to put the animals into different 
classes from those in which naturalists 
put them. We have, therefore, had little 
neighbors and home-animals, and now we 
have useful animals. Not that home-ani- 
mals are not useful, for many of them are 
eminently so ; but the present is a class of 
animals that we are not accustomed to see 
in use/' 

" People ride on elephants in pictures,'' 
said Clara. 

" So they do in menageries," replied her 
brother, " for you know that papa took me 
once, a great while ago, when I was a little 
boy. I was frightened and cried to come 
home, but I wouldn't do that now." 

"No, indeed!" said little Edith. "Why, 



28o 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 




ELEPHANT-RIDING. 



I wouldn't cry now. — Would I, Miss Har- 
son ?" 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE, 28 1 

"I think not, dear; and if papa does not 
object, I've a notion of trying you quite 
soon." 

When was papa ever known to object to 
anything that Miss Harson proposed ? So 
the children considered their going to the 
menagerie as orood as settled, and were 
joyful accordingly. 

"We must begin upon our very large 
animal," continued the young lady, "if we 
have any hope of getting through with 
him ; and you will probably be surprised 
to hear that there are two kinds of ele- 
phants — the Asiatic, or Indian, and the 
African. They are exactly alike, however, 
in their habits, and very much so in appear- 
ance ; but look closely at these two pict- 
ures and tell me what differences you can 
find." 

"The head of the Indian elephant is 
smaller," said Malcolm, " and so are the 
ears." 

"Yes," replied his governess; "the ears 
of this African elephant are something won- 
derful to behold. See how they lie back 
and hang down just above his fore legs — 



282 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

as some one has said, like immense leaves 
or a great fan on each side/' 

" That is just what they do look like/' ex- 
claimed Clara. " Miss Harson, look at these 
little hills on the African elephant's back ; 
the other one doesn't have 'em." 

" There are two decided waves there, 
while the Indian elephant's back is more 
like one large hill." 

"What little bits of eyes they've got!" 
said Edith, who was anxious to make some 
discoveries of her own. " I shouldn't think 
they could see much." 

"The eyes are smaller in proportion to 
the elephants' size," said Miss Harson, 
" than are those of any other animal, and 
their sight is not very good. It is thought 
by naturalists that elephants' eyes are small 
for protecting them in the dense thickets 
among which they love to roam, and they 
are also furnished with a sort of membrane, 
which can be drawn down at pleasure, as 
a further protection against small twigs 
and thorns. You will notice, Malcolm, that 
the head of the Indian elephant is not only 
smaller, but is differently shaped, being nar- 






A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 283 

rower. The head of an elephant is the 
strongest part of the animal, and the thick 
bone will even flatten a bullet that is fired 
against it." 

"I suppose, Miss Harson," said Clara, 
"that the Indian elephants live in India?" 

" Yes, in India, with its provinces and ad- 
jacent islands, especially in the large island 
of Ceylon. They really inhabit the whole 
of Southern x\sia, and are therefore called 
Asiatic elephants. The African elephant 
is found on the whole western side of Af- 
rica, as far down as the Cape of Good 
Hope." 

" I think," said Malcolm, " that the queer- 
est thing about an elephant is its trunk. It 
looks like an immense nose curled up at 
the end, and yet it is like a hand, because its 
owner can take things up with it and hold 
'em." 

"It is a nose," was the reply, "and it is 
also a hand, because it has a sort of finger 
and thumb. Between these are the open- 
ings of the nostrils. There is a great deal 
to learn about this trunk, but first we will 
try to get some general idea of this whale 



284 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

among land-animals. As for its size, an 
ordinary elephant is eight or nine feet high 
and about fifteen feet long. African ele- 
phants are sometimes twelve, and even 
fourteen, feet in height, and the weight of 
such a huge creature is six to seven thou- 
sand pounds." 

" Wouldn't it be dreadful," said Edith, 
" to have an elephant tumble over on any 
one?" 

"Dreadful indeed, Edie ; but fortunately 
there are none of these monsters roaming 
about in the woods at Elmrido-e. When 
elephants are wickedly disposed — as they 
sometimes are, even those which have been 
tamed — they make use of this terrible 
weight to crush a fancied enemy by driv- 
ing him against a wall. It makes them 
powerful engines of war, for which they 
have often been used, as there is no es- 
cape from the close approach of such an 
immense moving mass." 

"Miss Harson," asked Clara, "is a real 
elephant the color of that dark-gray canton 
flannel one that you made for Edith ever so 
loner a^o ?" 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE, 285 

"Something of that color," replied the 
young lady, " but darker and duller-look- 
ing. I should say that elephants are of a 
lead-color, though sometimes they are 
nearly black. Yet white elephants are 
frequently found — or those that are called 
white. These are never entirely white, but 
very light-colored. They are usually Indian 
elephants, and are owned only by royalty. 
One of the titles of the king of Siam is 
king of the white elephant. And now 
what next ?" 

" These queer things sticking out by his 
trunk," said Edith; a what does he do with 
'em, Miss Harson ?" 

" Kills his enemies sometimes, dear, for 
these are tusks, or teeth ; and you remem- 
ber my telling you about the dangerous 
tusks of the wild boar? Those of an or- 
dinary Indian elephant will weigh as much 
as sixty pounds, and those of the African 
species over one hundred. The latter are 
from six to eight feet long, and they are the 
most valuable part of the elephant because 
of the numerous uses for the ivory of which 
they are formed." 



286 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" What queer-looking feet he's got/' said 
Malcolm — " without any ankles !" 

" His legs do seem to come to a very 
sudden end," replied Miss Harson ; "but 
if you look closely, you will see that the 
1 queer-looking feet ' are broad hoofs with 
five nails, although the hind feet seldom 
have more than four. Sometimes there are 
a great many more of these nails, which 
vary greatly in number. The sole of this 
hoof-like foot is nearly round, and in an 
elephant of common size it will measure 
about twelve inches across. The huge 
body is supported upon very solid pillars, 
and the pillars themselves have most sub- 
stantial foundations." 

" I should think so !" exclaimed Clara. 
"How I'd hate to be an elephant! — 
Wouldn't you, Miss Harson?" 

"On account of having such big feet?" 
laughed her governess. " I have not con- 
sidered the advantages of being an ele- 
phant, but, whatever they may be, there is 
one thing, Clara, in which the most insig- 
nificant human being is superior to the 
grandest animal that ever lived." 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 287 

" I know/' said Clara, softly. " You mean 
the soul, Miss Harson ?" 

" Yes, dear Clara — the soul with its 
blessed hope of immortality through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. When lost in wonder 
over the strength and power and marvel- 
ous formation of such a huge animal, we 
can remember that after its allotted years 
on earth these creatures all perish and are 
as though they had never been, while the help- 
less infant whom it could crush with one 
touch of its foot dies only to live for ever." 

" How long do elephants live?" asked 
Malcolm, presently. ,, 

" One hundred years," replied his gov- 
erness, " seems to be the ordinary period 
of an elephant's existence, but some live 
much longer, as great an age as three hun- 
dred years having been known. If such a 
powerful creature, living so many years, 
were a meat-eater or a carnivorous ani 
mal, he would destroy all other living 
things, but he feeds entirely upon vegeta- 
bles, with a strong partiality for the twigs 
of trees." 

" But where does he put anything to 



288 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

eat?" said Edith, puzzling over the picture. 
" He hasn't got any mouth." 

" It does not appear there, dear, but here 
is a picture which will show you a mouth 
directly under the trunk. " 

"All the same, ma'am," said Malcolm, "I 
don't see how he ever gets anything into it. 
And how does he get his trunk up into the 
air like that?" 

"With the help of its forty thousand 
muscles. 'We need not, therefore, be sur- 
prised if this instrument be strong enough 
to tear up a tree and delicate enough to 
seize a pin. There is no animal structure 
in the least like the trunk of an elephant, 
but, though the mechanism is unique, it is 
altogether complete for its purposes.' This 
wonderful trunk has been called ' the ele- 
phant's hand' and 'the snake-hand,' and 
the Caffre of Africa, when he has killed an 
elephant, still has a feeling of superstitious 
awe for the trunk, which he cuts off and 
buries, saying, 'The elephant is a great 
lord, and the trunk is its hand.' This mem- 
ber has neither bone nor cartilage, yet it 
can be contracted, moved up or down, to 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 289 

the right or the left, and shot out, when 
necessary, from a foot to five feet Ion a-. 
The centre of the trunk is pierced by two 
long canals which are the continuation of 
the nostrils, and they are separated by a 
fatty substance which is less than half an 
inch thick. When these channels reach the 
centre of the bone in which the tusks are 
planted, they suddenly turn toward the outer 
part of this bone with a semicircular curve, 
and they are so much narrower here that 
unless the elephant uses its muscles to 
dilate them they act as valves to keep from 
going higher any liquid that may be taken 
into the trunk. The canals widen a^ain 
beyond this point and curve back; so that 
the elephant can use his trunk as a vessel 
for holding water, to be resorted to as he 
has need of it. Now," added the young 
lady, " I know that this is not nearly so in- 
teresting as a great many other things about 
the elephant — I do not enjoy it so much my- 
self — but it is important for us to under- 
stand how this mysterious trunk can be 
put to so many different uses. There is a 
great deal of learned writing about the 

19 



29O SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

two sets of muscles by which the trunk is 
moved, which muscles are called longitudi- 
nal and transverse. — Can you tell me what 
that means, Malcolm ?" 

" Isn't ' transverse ' * going around/ and 
' longitudinal' isn't?" 

" ' Transverse ' is slanting," was the smil- 
ing reply; "you did not present your ideas 
in a scientific form. But this will do for 
muscles at present. You see in these ends 
of the trunks the finger and thumb, and in 
these the muscles are even more flexible, 
so that the animal can seize such objects as 
he wants with his finger and hold them fast 
with the help of the thumb. The trunk of 
the elephant may be first regarded as an 
instrument for collecting his food. He feeds 
upon all vegetable substances, from the 
leaves of trees and the coarsest grass to 
the most farinaceous grain and the choicest 
fruit. Though his enormous bulk — requir- 
ing that his provender shall be in large 
quantity — renders a plentiful supply of the 
commoner vegetable productions necessa- 
ry to him, yet his palate is pleased with 
delicacies. For this reason the strength 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 2gi 

and the minute touch of his proboscis are 
equally available in the collection of his 
daily supplies. If he meet with long herb- 
age, he twists his trunk spirally round the 
roots and crops them off. The bundle 
which he gathers is then held between 
what we have called the finger and thumb 
of the trunk, and is thus conveyed to the 
mouth. If the objects which he is collect- 
ing are too small to repay him for the 
trouble of carrying them to his mouth, he 
holds them one by one behind his thumb 
till he has gathered enough for a load. 
Thus, if he find a small root, he seldom 
eats it at once, but collects two or three, 
holding each as you see in the book in 
Clara's hand. When the object which he 
wants requires force for its removal or is 
difficult to reach, he completely curls his 
trunk around it, and in this way, elevating 
himself upon his hind legs, he pulls down 
the tall branches of the trees of the forests 
which are his natural domain." 

The children pressed forward with great 
interest to see the pictures of the elephant's 
trunk in different positions, and of the huge 



292 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

animal itself breaking down the branch of 
a tree. 

"It looks like an enormous pig," said 
Clara. 

u It has some right to that look/' was the 
reply, " for it is a relation of our grunting 
friend. ,, 

The more they looked at the picture, 
the stronger the resemblance seemed to 
grow; and, remembering the wild boar's 
tusks, the children wondered that they 
had not thought of it before. But Miss 
Harson did not wonder in the least, as it 
would be quite out of the usual fashion to 
associate elephants with pigs. 

" I should think," said Malcolm, " that it 
would be very hard work for the elephant 
to eet the end of his trunk into his mouth. 
How does he manage it, Miss Harson ?" 

" By means of those forty thousand 
muscles, Malcolm. He cannot get his 
mouth to the food, so he carries the food 
to his mouth by doubling his trunk into a 
sort of loop, the end of which reaches his 
mouth. 'As an organ of touch/ says a 
naturalist, 'the proboscis of the elephant is 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 293 

exquisitely fine. Elephants sometimes go 
blind, and under that privation the poor 
animal can not only collect its food and 
discriminate as to its quality by this won- 
derful instrument, but can travel without 
much difficulty over uneven ground, avoid- 
ing lumps and hollows and stepping over 
ditches. The creature, in such circum- 
stances, rarely touches the ground with its 
trunk, but, projecting it forward as far as 
possible, lets the finger — which is curled 
inward, to protect the nostrils — skim along 
the surface/ " 

"Doesn't an elephant's trunk sometimes 
get hurt ?" said Clara. 

" Very seldom, I think/ 1 replied her 
governess, " because the elephant takes 
such good care of it. If threatened with 
danger, his trunk appears to be his first 
thought, and he raises it up as high as 
possible to get it out of the way of harm. 
* If this delicate organ be in the slightest 
degree injured, the elephant becomes wild 
with rage and terror. He is even afraid 
of a dead tiger, and carefully moves his 
trunk out of reach. The care with which 



2-94 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

he endeavors to put his trunk beyond danger 
makes him extremely cautious of using it 
as a weapon. He rarely strikes with it, 
though he will frequently throw clods and 
stones with it at objects which he dis- 
likes/ " 

" I suppose he uses his tusks instead," 
said Malcolm ; " they must be equal to 
two swords." 

" Yes ; some naturalists call these for- 
midable weapons the elephant's defences, 
and they enable him not only to clear his 
way through the thick forests in which he 
lives by rooting up small trees and tearing 
down cross-branches — in doino- which serv- 
ice the tusks effectually protect his face 
and proboscis from injury — but they qual- 
ify him for warding off the attacks of the 
wily tiger and the furious rhinoceros, often 
securing him the victory by one hard blow, 
which transfixes the assailant to the earth. 
These tusks are said to correspond, like 
those of the boar, with the canine, or eye, 
teeth in other animals ; but, unlike those 
of other animals, they are formed of that 
smooth, beautiful substance which we know 



A LARGE ACQUAINTANCE. 295 

as ivory. Some of these tusks are too 
heavy for a man to lift, and the largest 
ever known weighed three hundred and 
fifty pounds." 

" Didn't they make the elephant tired?" 
asked Edith, pitying the great animal for 
having to carry such heavy things around. 

" No, Edie," was the reply ; " these heavy 
tusks were probably no more for the im- 
mense elephant that owned them to carry 
than the boar's tusks are for him. In some 
of these pictures you will see that the tusks 
grow directly downward like the trunk, 
and this gives the animal a very singular 
expression. These weapons are often 
used to turn up the ground to get at roots 
and bulbs, in which the elephant delights, 
and which he discovers before they are 
detected by his fine sense of smell. Where 
wild elephants are found whole acres will 
often be seen ploughed up in this way." 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE ELEPHANT A T HOME. 

MISS HARSON," asked Clara, " what 
do people do with ivory ?" 

" Not nearly so many things as they for- 
merly did," was the reply. " Years ago, 
when everything from the East Indies 
was much sought after, ivory was in great 
demand, and many beautifully-carved arti- 
cles in ivorv were brought from over the 
sea. Exquisite boxes and book-covers 
were made of it, also chessmen and 
card-cases, and even larger articles, such 
as cabinets and statues. It was also used 
extensively in inlaid work, and ebony 
inlaid with ivory was considered very 
beautiful." 

"Isn't it used for piano-keys?" said Mal- 
colm. "They always remind me of im- 
mense rows of teeth." 

296 



THE ELEPHAXT AT HOME. 297 

" Yes ; that is one of its principal uses 
at the present day, and piano-keys are not 
unlike great flat teeth. In the Bible there 
is no mention made of elephants, although 
so many other animals are spoken of, but 
ivory, the product of elephants, is frequent- 
ly alluded to. The first mention of it is found 
in First Kings: ' Moreover, the king made a 
great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with 
the best gold/* This is part of the descrip- 
tion of Solomon's magnificent palace, 'of 
which this celebrated throne with the six 
steps, and the twelve lions on the steps, 
was the central and most magnificent ob- 
ject/ Solomon was the richest king that 
ever lived, and in his time ivory was so 
valuable that it was ranked amoncr the 
wonders to be seen in his palace. — Read 
the twenty-second verse of this same chap- 
ter, Clara. " 

11 ' For the king had at sea a navy of 
Tharsish with the navy of Hiram : once in 
three years came the navy of Tharsish, 
bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, 
and peacocks.' " 

* 1 Kings x. 18. 



298 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" Now, Malcolm, " continued Miss Har- 
son, "let us hear what the prophet Ezekiel 
says of ivory in speaking of the greatness 
of Tyre. Chapter twenty-seven, verse 
fifteen/ " 

Malcolm read with some surprise: 

" * The men of Dedan were thy merchants : 
many isles were the merchandise of thine 
hand : they brought thee for a present 
horns of ivory and ebony/ 'Horns'?" 
he repeated. " Why, Miss Harson, I thought 
you told us that tusks were teeth ?" 

"Yes," replied his governess, "and the 
Hebrew word for ' ivory ' means ' a tooth/ 
the Old Testament having been, as I have 
told you, first written in Hebrew. The 
verse which you have read does not really 
mean that ivory is made of horn, but of 
'uncut tusks/ " 

"Is there any more about ivory in the 
Bible, Miss Harson ?" asked Edith. 

"Yes, dear; in the Psalms it is written : 
" 'All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, 
and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, where- 
by they have made thee glad/* It is 

* Ps. xlv. 8. 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 299 

thought that ' ivory palaces ' meant boxes or 
chests inlaid with ivory in which the royal 
garments were laid with perfumes. There 
are other verses, though, in which houses 
really are meant ; and in First Kings we read 
of the ' ivory house'* that was made by wick- 
ed King Ahab — not that the whole house 
was built of ivory, but only that it was inlaid 
with it. ' Houses of ivory ' are mentioned 
by the prophet Amos.f ' Woe to them/ 
says that prophet, ' that lie upon beds of 
ivory, and stretch themselves upon their 
couches !' In those days, and long after- 
ward, the beds of the wealthy were adorned 
with ivory. In the New Testament ivory 
is mentioned only once, and that is in 
Revelation : 'And the merchants of the 
earth shall weep and mourn over her, for 
no man buyeth their merchandise any 
more : the merchandise of gold, and silver, 
and precious stones, and of pearls, and 
fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, 
and all thy fine wood, and all manner 
vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels 
of most precious wood, and of brass, and 

* I Kings xxii. 39. f Amos iii. 15. 



300 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

iron, and marble.'* This, like the descrip- 
tion of Solomon's throne, shows that ivory- 
was counted in those days among the most 
valuable things." 

" Miss Harson," said Clara, presently, 
"I don't see how such creatures as ele- 
phants could ever be caught to get the 
ivory. I suppose that their tusks don't 
drop off, do they?" 

" No, indeed ; they are too firmly fastened 
in the thick bone of the head for that. It 
is no easy matter to get them out even 
after the animal is dead. The wild elephant 
is a formidable creature which not even the 
fiercest beast can attack with impunity, and 
ivory-hunters have frequently lost their 
lives in attempting to kill him. He is, 
besides, seldom seen alone, as these great 
animals seem to enjoy one another's society 
and roam about in herds. A traveler who 
has watched them 'in the deep solitudes of 
a tropical wilderness' says 'that a herd of 
elephants browsing in majestic tranquillity 
amid the wild magnificence of an African 
landscape is a very noble sight.' Follow- 

* Rev. xviii. II, 12. 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 3OI 

ing the footprints of a band of these 
gigantic creatures, the same traveler con- 
tinues : 'It was in the groves and jungles 
that they had left the most striking proofs 
of their recent presence and peculiar habits. 
In many places paths had been trodden 
through the midst of dense thorny forests 
otherwise impenetrable. They appeared to 
have opened these paths with great judg- 
ment, always taking the best and shortest 
cut to the next open savanna or ford of the 
river, and in this way they were of the 
greatest use to us by pioneering our route 
through a most difficult and intricate country 
never yet traversed by a wheel-carriage, and 
a great part of it, indeed, inaccessible even 
on horseback except for the aid of these 
powerful and sagacious animals. In such 
places the great bull-elephant always 
marches in the van, bursting through the 
jungle as a bullock would through a field 
of hops, treading down the thorny brush- 
wood and breaking off with his proboscis 
the larger branches that obstruct his pas- 
sage ; the females and younger part of the 
herd follow in his wake in single file ; and 



302 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

in this manner a path is cleared through 
the densest woods and forests such as it 
would give the pioneers of an army no 
small labor to accomplish/ This traveler 
saw a great number of trees which the 
elephants had torn out of the ground and 
turned upside down that they might feast 
at their leisure on the soft, juicy roots of 
which they are fond. With a very large 
tree the elephant would use one of his tusks 
as a crowbar, pushing it into the ground 
under the roots, so that he could easily 
pull the tree out with his trunk/ ' 

" No wonder," said Malcolm, " that ele- 
phants can do so many tricks after they 
are taught, if they can do all that without 
being taught/' 

"An elephant can do a great deal else 
without being taught, and among his natu- 
ral accomplishments is that of cooling him- 
self off by drawing from his throat, with 
the help of his trunk, a supply of saliva, 
which he frequently showers all over his 
skin. He also takes up dust and blows it 
over his back and sides to keep off the flies, 
and he often fans himself with a great 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 303 

bough, which he uses as handily as possi- 
ble. A poet has written of some of these 
habits of the elephant : 

" ■ Trampling his path through wood and brake, 

And canes which crackling fall before his way, 
And tassel-grass whose silvery feathers play 

O'ertopping the young trees, 
On comes the elephant to slake 

His thirst at noon in yon pellucid spring. 
Lo ! from his trunk upturned aloft he flings 

The grateful shower, and now 

Plucking the broad-leav'd bough 
Of yonder plume, with waving motion slow 

Fanning the languid air, 
He waves it to and fro.' " 

It seemed wonderfully comical to think 
of elephants fanning themselves of their 
own accord. It was much more amusing 
than the same performance after they had 
been trained to do it. 

" Perhaps, then," said Miss Harson, rath- 
er mischievously, " you will not care to hear 
about any trained elephants?" 

This sounded almost cruel, and the speak- 
er declared that she was quite overwhelmed 
by such surprised and disappointed looks. 

"We shall come to them before long," 
she hastened to add, "but just now you 



304 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

wish to know how these huge animals are 
captured. They are hunted for different 
reasons : the native African wants their 
flesh to cook and eat, also the tusks, which 
he is often obliged to get for the petty king 
or chief to whose tribe he belongs • and the 
white man hunts them sometimes just for 
the excitement and glory of killing such large 
and powerful creatures, and at other times 
he wishes to take them alive to be tamed 
and perhaps added to some collection 
of animals exhibited in other countries. 
'When we consider the enormous strength 
of the elephant, which enables him to break 
through all ordinary means of confinement, 
with his ability to resist any violent attack 
and with sagacity to elude any common 
stratagem, it is evident that the business 
of his capture must be a task requiring equal 
courage and activity, with great skill and 
presence of mind in the individuals en- 
gaged in it/ In Africa, and also in Ceylon, 
an elephant is often taken by the natives in 
a pit which is covered with a slight platform 
of grass and branches, and a tame elephant 
is often used to lead a herd of these ani- 




'/n 

a 



20 



306 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

mals toward it. The leader of the herd no 
sooner touches the unsafe spot than down 
he goes, and the others run away in terror. 
The one secured is kept in the pit until he 
is quite subdued and it seems safe to bring 
him out; then large bundles of jungle-grass 
are tied up and thrown to him, and with 
these helps he reaches the top by degrees. 
' The elephant will do the same if he is 
swamped in boggy ground, thrusting the 
bundles of grass and straw into the yield- 
ing earth with his heavy feet and placing 
them so around him with his trunk that he 
at last obtains a firm footing/ In Northern 
India, where the elephants are comparative- 
ly small, they are often captured with a slip- 
knot, somewhat after the fashion of catching 
wild horses with the lasso. 'The hunter, 
seated on a docile elephant round whose 
body the cord is fastened, singles out one 
from the wild herd, and, cautiously ap- 
proaching, throws his pliable rope in such 
a manner that it rests behind the ears and 
over the brows of the animal pursued. He 
instantly curls up his trunk, making an ef- 
fort to remove the rope, which with great 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 307 

adroitness on the part of the hunter is then 
passed forward over the neck. Another 
hunter next comes up, who repeats the 
process ; and thus the creature is held by 
the two tame elephants to whom the cords 
are attached till his strength is exhausted/ " 

" It seems mean of the tame elephants,'' 
said Malcolm, but Clara and Edith thought 
it was " nice," because it looked as if the 
tame ones were so contented. 

" I think you are both right," replied their 
governess, "and the account shows how 
thoroughly obedient these great animals can 
be made. — The most valuable elephants are 
those of the greatest size and strength, and 
these are usually ferocious and wander about 
by themselves or in little companies of twos 
and threes. They do great damage to farms 
and gardens, and seem bent on destroying 
everything they encounter. Such an animal 
is sometimes followed for several days and 
nights before he is caught. The catchingis ac- 
complished by the help of two or four trained 
female elephants, called koomkies. ' The fe- 
males gradually move toward him, appar- 
ently unconscious of his presence, grazing 



308 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

with great complacency, as if they were, 
like him, inhabitants of the wild forest. It 
is soon perceived by them whether or not he 
is likely to be entrapped by their arts. The 
drivers remain concealed at a little distance 
while the koomkies press round the unhappy 
goondah, as this sort of elephant is called. 
If he suffers himself to be cajoled by his 
new companions, his capture is almost cer- 
tain. The hunters cautiously creep under him, 
and while he is thus amused they fasten his 
fore legs with a strong rope. It is said that 
the wily females not only will divert his at- 
tention from their mahouts, or drivers, but 
will absolutely assist them in fastening the 
cords/ " 

This was delightfully like a story, it 
seemed so hard to believe, and Miss Har- 
son read to her young listeners from the 
Sabbath-School Visitor a description of an- 
other mode of taming elephants : 

" ' A large party of men — more than 
three hundred — go out together into the 
jungle ; that is, the wild country inhabited 
only by wild beasts. They take a number 
of tame elephants along. Scouts are sent 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 309 

on ahead, who soon find a herd of perhaps 
forty or fifty wild ones. Then the party 
of hunters separate in two diverging lines 
and slip off into the forest, leaving two 
men behind in their path to stand guard, 
one in every fifty yards. When the two 
lines have passed quite behind the elephant- 
herd, they come together again, making a 
circle sometimes two or three miles around. 
In the midst of this the wild elephants are 
caught, though they do not at once find it 
out. It does not take a loner time for the 

<z> 

men to put up a light fence of split bamboo 
all around the circle. Fires are kindled for 
them to cook their rice by, and also to 
frighten the elephants. If one of the ele- 
phants rushes toward the fence, it is the 
duty of the nearest guards to thrust into 
the fire long bamboo poles, which send up 
showers of sparks and explode with a loud 
crack like a pistol ; this frightens the ele- 
phant, and it runs back. Night conies on, 
and the animals make strange trumpeting 
noises through the forest; the fires lioht 
up the tree-branches, making a weird 
scene. The next day the men build a 



3io 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



strong place like a pound, and after a 
while they manage to drive either a part or 
the whole of the herd into it, and shut the 
door. The creatures are excited and angry 




TAMING ELEPHANTS. 



at being made fast. Now appears the 
great usefulness of the tame elephants : no 
hunter would dare venture into the pound 
except upon the back of one of these 



THE ELEPHANT A T HOME. 3 I I 

gentle creatures. The wild ones look up in 
surprise to see one of their own kind behav- 
ing so submissively. The hunters contrive 
to slip a rope around the legs of one of 
their captives, and, the tame elephant help- 
ing, they push and drag him out of the 
pound. He is tied to a tree-stump, as is 
shown in the picture, when at first he strikes 
with his trunk at the keeper and behaves 
very savagely ; but when he sees that the 
tame elephant standing near him for an 
example never kicks nor strikes, he will 
begin to grow more quiet, and in two or 
three days, usually, he will become so 
docile as to take sugar-cane from the hand 
of his keeper.'" 

11 The men who are tying him look so 

little,'' said Clara, when the story was 

finished, " among these big animals! How 

easily they could tread on 'em and kill 

em ! 

" Yes," was the reply ; " that is the won- 
derful part of it, and it shows how inferior 
the largest and most intelligent animal is 
to an ordinary man because God has willed 
it so. In the beginning he gave man the 



312 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



dominion ' over every living thing that 
moveth upon the earth/ and sooner or 
later he obtains it. In one of the sacred 
books of the Hindus it is written, ' The 
mind is stronger than an elephant, whom 
men have found means to subdue, though 
they have never been able to subdue their 
own inclinations.' " 

" This superiority of human mind over 
the immense physical bigness of the ani- 
mal/' continued Miss Harson, " is shown 
in the way hunters contrive to capture this 
great creature. They resort to all manner 
of ingenious devices to entrap him ; of 
some of these we have already learned. 
There is another way in which the hunter 
is said to deceive the elephant. He pre- 
tends to be running away, and entices the 
huge animal into chasing him down a steep 
hill. When the elephant is in motion, the 
hunter quickly turns and runs up hill again. 
His pursuer, by reason of his vast size, is 
unable to check himself at once, and the 
hunter has him in his power. Thus mind 
in the hunter is more than a match for 
bodily strength in the elephant." 



3H 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



"But how," asked Malcolm, "do they 
manage to tame an elephant after they get 
him caught ? I should think he'd be so 
mad that he'd smash up everything." 

" He probably would if he had the 
opportunity, but this is well guarded against, 
and he is tamed by degrees. ■ The animal 
is carefully attended upon ; all his necessi- 
ties are diligently supplied; he has abun- 
dance of food and drink ; his skin is kept 
cool by continued applications of water; 
the flies that irritate him are driven off. 
One man — his intended keeper — is always 
about him, soothing him by the most dili- 
gent kindness. The animal gradually learns 
that his comforts must depend upon the 
will of his keeper, and he allows him, there- 
fore, to approach him, and at length to get 
upon his back. As the elephant gains 
confidence the keeper is more bold, and 
soon takes his position upon the neck with 
the iron hook, ready to direct him by 
catching hold of his ear or pressing it into 
his skin. To this rough monitor he gradu- 
ally yields entire submission, as the horse 
submits to be urged on by the spur. It is 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 315 

generally as long as six months before the 
elephant is rendered perfectly obedient to 
his keeper, so as to be conducted from 
place to place without difficulty. Once 
tamed, there seems to be no limit to his 
obedience and capacity. There is, of 
course, a great difference in elephants in 
this respect, as some are naturally more 
gentle than others, and one with a furious 
temper will break out upon the slightest 
provocation, and will even kill the object of 
its rage. But they are often very affection- 
ate under kind treatment, and an elephant 
once became so fond of a child that he 
would not take his food unless his little 
friend was present ; and when the child 
slept, he was constantly busy driving away 
the flies/ " 

" I suppose," said Clara, " that he flapped 
his big ears at 'em if he was an African 
elephant/' 

" I do not know, dear," was the laughing 
reply, " but it seems probable that he either 
did that or waved his trunk to and fro. I 
only wonder that such a clumsy nurse did 
not contrive to kill the child, but it seems 



316 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

that in India the wife of a mahout — you 
know what that is now — has been known 
to give her baby in charge to an elephant 
while she went away on some business, 
and the animal's care and sagacity excited 
the amazement of an officer who watched 
him. * The child — which, like most chil- 
dren, did not like to lie still in one position 
— as soon as left to itself would begin 
crawling about, in which exercise it would 
probably get among the legs of the animal 
or become entangled in the branches of the 
tree on which he was feeding, when the 
elephant would in the most tender manner 
disengage his charge either by lifting it out 
of the way with his trunk or by removing the 
impediments to its free progress. If the 
child had crawled to such a distance as to 
verge upon the limits of his range — for the 
animal was chained by the leg to a peg 
driven into the ground — he would stretch 
out his trunk and lift it back as gently as 
possible to the spot whence it had started/ ' 
This pleased the little Kyles so much that 
Miss Harson read a short article written 
by a missionary in India: 



3 1 8 THE ELEPHANT A T HOME. 

" ' Once, while on a visit to a friend, we 
were taken to a deserted city to spend the 
day. Elephants were sent us on which to 
make a portion of our journey; when we 
reached our destination, the elephants were 
turned into an enclosure. Mosquitoes 
were abundant, and troubled the huge 
creatures, though they soon managed to 
rid themselves of their unwelcome visitors. 
The earth in the enclosure had been trod- 
den into fine dust ; with this one of the 
elephants filled his trunk, and, holding it 
aloft, showered the dust over his body, 
repeating the process until his body was 
thickly coated. The other elephants fol- 
lowed his example. 

"T have heard of one tame elephant 
whose doings were quite wonderful — such 
as taking a glass of sugar from his keepers 
hand, eating the sugar and giving back the 
glass, as we see him doing in the picture. 
The keeper of this elephant was given 
each day a certain amount of flour, with 
which he was expected to make cakes of 
bread for his charge. For a time the man 
honestly gave to the elephant the full 






THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 319 

amount, but at length he began to lay aside 
for himself one or two cakes, and gradually 
increased the number. The elephant seemed 
to take no notice, but one day, as the cakes 
were brought to him, he turned over the 
entire pile with his trunk, as if counting 
them ; then, rushing toward the astonished 
keeper, he wound his trunk about the man's 
body, and, taking him to an open well broad 
and deep, he held him above it, shaking him, 
and seeming as if he would really drop 
him into the depths below, but at length 
releasing him. You may be sure that the 
keeper took no more cakes belonging to 
that elephant.' " 

The children seemed more and more de- 
lighted with each story, and Miss Harson 
said that she must tell them about an ele- 
phant that made an express-wagon of him- 
self. 

" This sagacious animal/' continued the 
young lady, " would swim across the Gan- 
ges loaded with parcels, and would then 
unload himself without the least assistance. 
Another one — also an Indian elephant — was 
seen early one morning marching alone 



320 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

into the courtyard of the fort at Travan- 
core with a heavy box on his trunk. Hav- 
ing put this down and departed, he soon 
appeared again with a second box, which 
he deposited by the side of the other one. 
Again and again he came with the same 
burden, until there was quite a pile of 
boxes arranged in the most orderly man- 
ner. These boxes were filled with money 
and jewels belonging to the rajah of Trav- 
ancore, who had died in the night, and they 
were removed in this singular manner to 
the fort for greater safety/' 

" Only think/' said Malcolm, "how it 
would seem to get a parcel or a box by 
elephant instead of by express ! Wouldn't 
it be funny, though?" His sisters seemed 
to think that, although it might be funny, 
they would much prefer the ordinary ex- 
pressman. 

" I shouldn't think an elephant would 
carry things for people," said Clara, " when 
he is sent off without any driver. He might 
run away then." 

" The tame elephants do not seem to care 
to run away," was the reply, "and there is 






THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 32 I 

a queer legend about the way in which they 
first came to enter into the service of man- 
kind. The story says that when this hap- 
pened there were not nearly so many ele- 
phants in the world as there are now, and 
that they all lived together. Their hind 
legs, which now bend forward, like the legs 
of a human being, then bent backward, 
like the legs of a quadruped — as the story 
says. The people living in those days had 
none of our useful animals to help them 
carry things around, and they had no wag- 
ons or carts to put anything in. This made 
it very hard for them, and at last they be- 
gan to think that the elephants, who were 
so big and strong, might just as well help 
them ; so some of them went to the leader 
of the great herd and talked to him about 
it. They promised to supply the elephants 
with the fruit and vegetables which these 
animals particularly liked from their gar- 
dens if they would agree in return to carry 
the people and their heavy things when- 
ever they desired it. The head-elephant 
was greatly pleased with the offer, but he 
said that he did not see how the plan could 
21 



322 THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 

be carried out. They were so high that 
they would have to kneel to let the people 
get on their backs, and it was so hard for 
them to get up again when they once got 
down that it would be quite impossible to 
do it at all with a heavy load to lift. This 
was reasonable, but very discouraging, and 
the men went back to their companions. 
Some others then visited a very wise witch 
in the neighborhood and asked her advice. 
Having received a handsome present in 
payment, she went at night where the ele- 
phants were all lying asleep on the ground 
or leaning against trees, and without their 
knowing anything about it she managed to 
make their legs all bend inward. In the 
morning the head-elephant first discovered 
this change in himself, to his great surprise, 
and the whole herd found out by degrees 
that they could rise up quite easily. Then 
the men came to them again and persuaded 
them to make the agreement they had pro- 
posed ; for when it was seen that an ele- 
phant could really get up and shuffle off 
with a great load of things on his back, 
there was nothing more to be said. It is 



THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 323 

reported, though, that a great many of these 
animals became very much dissatisfied 
with the heavy work they had to do for 
men from morning till night, and so they 
wandered off from the herd and settled in 
Asia and Africa and the other places where 
they are found, and before they will do any 
labor now they have first to be caught and 
then tamed." 

" Isn't that true — what you have just 
been telling us, Miss Harson ?" asked Edie, 
with great interest. 

"Why, no, dear," replied her governess, 
smiling ; " how could it be true, when we 
know that animals do not talk ? Elephants 
are very fond of melons and rice and ten- 
der leaves, and all the delicacies that were 
promised them in the legend; and, consid- 
ering- their great strength and intelligence, 
it is quite probable that if they could have 
made such an arrangement — and if their 
hind legs had ever been bent the other way 
and could have been bent forward, as the 
story says — they would have made it"' 

"Well," said the little girl, contentedly, 
" then it might be true." 



324 THE ELEPHANT AT HOME. 

" There is an amusing old story," con- 
tinued Miss Harson, u of some mischievous 
Eastern tailors and an elephant. The ele- 
phant was on his way to the river under 
charge of his master. Passing a shop 
where tailors were at work, he put out his 
trunk with the hope of receiving a gift of 
fruit ; in place of this, one of the tailors 
stuck a needle into the extended proboscis, 
thinking it a good piece of fun. The ele- 
phant quietly went to the river, and after 
drinking filled his trunk with muddy water. 
When, on his way back, he was again at 
the tailors* shop, he again put in his trunk, 
but it was to delude the cruel men with 
water. It would be well for those who are 
fond of playing tricks on others," said the 
governess, " to ask themselves how they 
like it when the tables are turned and the 
tricks are played on them. 'To do to 
others as we would that they should do to 
us ' is a good rule for tailors, and everybody 
else." 

Malcolm thought the shower-bath which 
the tailors received served them right for 
their unkind treatment of the poor elephant. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HARD WORK. 

MISS HARSON," asked Malcolm, 
" didn't people formerly use ele- 
phants in fighting battles ?" 

"Yes," replied his governess; "these 
animals were used in very ancient times 
both to carry soldiers into battle and to 
attack the enemy themselves. Besides 
trampling and crushing those within reach 
of their powerful feet, these war-elephants 
have been known to stretch out their trunks 
and pick up soldiers, whom they placed in 
the hands of their riders. Alexander the 
Great was obliged to contend with the 
elephants employed by the Indian monarch 
whose kingdom he invaded, and after gain- 
ing the victory he used these powerful 
animals in his own service. Elephants are 
particularly associated with India, and the 

325 



326 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

early princes of that country depended 
largely upon them for their success in war. 
Whoever could muster the largest number 
of trained elephants was sure of victory. 
A very small army with a single elephant 
has been known to disperse a much larger 
force, which fled at once because of the terror 
which the animal inspired ; but an Indian 
emperor named Baber, who seldom used 
elephants in war, on going to meet a ter- 
rible adversary, spoke of nerving himself 
for the encounter, as a Christian might, in 
these beautiful words : * I placed my foot 
in the stirrup of resolution and my hand 
on the reins of confidence in God, and 
marched against Sultan Ibrahim, the son 
of Sultan Iskander, the son of Sultan 
Behlul Lodi Afghan, in whose possession 
the throne of Delhi and the dominions of 
Hindustan at that time were, whose army 
in the field was said to amount to a hundred 
thousand men, and who, including those of 
his amirs, had nearly a thousand ele- 
phants/ " 

It seemed impossible to take in the idea 
of such a number of huge creatures, and 



HARD WORK. $2? 

Edith asked, in great perplexity, where 
they all stayed. 

" I suppose, dear," was the reply, " that 
they had stalls of some kind, but possibly 
only a thick stake driven into the ground 
with a chain attached to fasten them to. 
In the warm climate where these animals 
belong they do not need the shelter which 
has to be provided for them in cold re- 
gions." 

" Do the people in India use elephants 
now in fighting ?" asked Malcolm. 

" Only in some very remote provinces, 
for India, you know, now belongs entirely 
to England. g u t even in modern times 
elephants are made very useful in war, 
although not taken into battle. They have 
assisted in dragging heavy cannon, push- 
ing the carriage- wheels with their heads 
and trunks, and immense guns have been 
carried on their backs. Here is an inter- 
esting account of elephants carrying some 
guns up a hill which shows not only their 
usefulness, but also their great caution and 
intelligence : 

" * Having cut a good deal of the most 



328 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

prominent part of the hill away and lain 
trees on the ascent as a footing for the 
elephants, these animals were made to 
approach it, which the first did with some 
reluctance and fear. He looked up, shook 
his head, and when forced by his driver 
roared piteously. There can be no ques- 
tion, in my opinion, that this sagacious 
animal was competent instinctively to judge 
of the practicability of the artificial flight of 
steps thus constructed, for the moment 
some little alteration had been made he 
seemed willing to approach. He then 
commenced his examination and scrutiny 
by pressing with his trunk the trees that 
had been thrown across, and after this he 
put his fore leg on with great caution, 
raising the fore part of his body so as to 
throw its weight on the tree. This done, 
he seemed satisfied as to its stability. The 
next step for him to ascend by, which we 
could not remove, was a projecting rock. 
Here the same sagacious examinations 
took place, the elephant keeping his flat 
side close to the side of the bank and 
leaning against it. The next step was 



HARD WORK. T> 2 9 

against a tree, but this, on the first pressure 
of his trunk, he did not like. Here his 
driver made use of the most endearing 
epithets, such as, ''Wonderful, my life!" 
44 Well done, my dear!" "My dove!" 
" My son !" " My wife !" but all these af- 
fectionate appellations, of which elephants 
are so fond, would not induce him to try 
again. Force was at length resorted to, 
and the elephant roared terrifically, but 
would not move. Something was then 
removed ; he seemed satisfied as before, 
and in time ascended the stupendous hill. 
On his reaching the top his delight was 
visible in a most eminent degree : he ca- 
ressed his keeper and threw the dirt about 
in a most playful manner. 

" ' Another elephant — a much younger 
animal — was now to follow. He had 
watched the ascent of the other with the 
most intense interest, making motions all 
the while as though he were assisting him by 
shouldering him up the acclivity. When he 
saw his comrade up, he evinced his pleasure 
by giving a salute something like the sound 
of a trumpet. When called upon to take 



330 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

his turn, however, he seemed much alarmed, 
and would not act at all without force. 
When he was two steps up, he slipped, 
but recovered himself by digging his 
toes into the earth. With the exception 
of this little accident he ascended exceed- 
ingly well. 

" ' When this elephant was near the top, 
the other who had already performed his 
task extended his trunk to the assistance 
of his brother in distress, round which the 
young animal entwined his, and thus 
reached the summit of the hill in safety. 
Having both accomplished their task, their 
greeting was as cordial as if they had been 
long separated from each other, and had 
just escaped from some perilous achieve- 
ment. They embraced each other and 
stood face to face for a considerable time, 
as if whispering congratulations. Their 
driver then made them salam to the gen- 
eral, who ordered them five rupees each for 
sweetmeats. On this reward of their mer- 
it being ordered, they immediately returned 
thanks by another salam. ,M 

The little audience were very enthusiastic 



HARD WORK. 33 I 

over these " delightful elephants " who acted 
so much like human beings, but of course 
they wished to know the meaning of " sa- 
lam " and " rupee. " 

U A salam," said their governess, " is a very 
low and prolonged bow, and a rupee is In- 
dian money valued at about forty cents of 
our coin. — Yes, elephants are passionately 
fond of sweet things, and two dollars' worth 
of candy for such a gigantic child would 
not equal more than a mere bite for one of 
you. It is astonishing, too, how daintily 
and carefully they will eat it. An ele- 
phant on exhibition was presented by one 
of his visitors with a package of candy 
wrapped in white paper, and he had no 
idea of putting it into his mouth just as it 
was. ' He curled up the end of his trunk 
and laid the package in the hollow of the 
curve ; then he rubbed it with his finger 
until the paper was broken and the candy 
fell out on his trunk. He threw the paper 
away, gathered up the candy with his fin- 
o-er, and carried it to his mouth without 
dropping a single piece.' " 

It seemed as though wonders about ele- 



332 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

phants would never cease, and the chil- 
dren listened entranced. 

"These animals/' continued Miss Har- 
son, " have been employed in India from 
the earliest times in every possible way in 
which strength and intelligence could be 
made useful. On receiving an order they 
will execute it without having any one to 
watch them, and two elephants have been 
seen battering down a wall at their keep- 
ers' request, with the promise of a reward 
in the shape of fruit and brandy. A gen- 
tleman who watched them says that ' they 
combined their efforts, and, doubling up 
their trunks — which were guarded from in- 
jury by leather — thrust against the strong- 
est part of the wall, and by reiterated 
shocks continued their attacks, still observ- 
ing and following with their eyes the ef- 
fect of the thrusts ; then, at last, making 
one grand effort, they suddenly drew back 
together, that they might not be wounded 
by the ruins/ An order like this is always 
given with the promise of some reward, 
and trained elephants, judging from their 
actions, readily understand the meaning of 



HARD WORK. 333 

various words to which they become accus- 
tomed. They will always answer to their 
names ; and when a particular one is called, 
he makes a shrill noise, as much as to say. 
1 1 am coming/ and goes at once to his 
keeper. Elephants will do almost anything 
for brandy or sweetmeats ; but if, when the 
work is finished, there is any attempt to 
keep back the pay, the animal becomes 
furious." 

"But, Miss Harson," said Clara, "how 
can an elephant understand that the things 
are given to him because he does the 
work?" 

"It is managed," replied her governess, 
" by first showing the animal what he is to 
have, then urging him to the work, and as 
soon as it is done giving him the thing 
promised. He thus learns to connect his 
extra efforts with particular rewards, and is 
more ready to undertake a heavy piece of 
work. But in some cases neither reward 
nor punishment will avail, and Bishop 
Heber mentions a large elephant that was 
brought up to get on his feet again a poor 
old starved elephant that had fallen down. 



334 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

' I was much struck/ he says, ' with the al- 
most human expression of surprise, alarm 
and perplexity in his countenance when he 
approached his fallen companion. They fas- 
tened a chain round his neck and about the 
body of the sick beast, and urged him in 
all ways, by encouragement and blows, to 
drag him up, even thrusting spears into his 
flanks. He pulled stoutly for a minute, but 
on the first groan his companion gave he 
stopped short, turned fiercely around with a 
loud roar, and with his trunk and fore feet 
began to attempt to loosen the chain from 
his neck/ " 

<k I suppose," said Malcolm, " that he felt 
so sorry for the poor fellow." 

'•Yes, and indignant that the unfeeling 
owners should be willing to increase his 
sufferings. The elephant has also shown 
the same care and sympathy for human 
beings, and there is a story told of one that 
was marching with part of an English army 
in India just behind a heavy vehicle from 
which a soldier tumbled in such a way that 
the hind wheel would have gone over him 
in a second or two. But he was saved by 






HARD WORK. 335 

the strength and ready wit of the elephant, 
who entirely of his own accord lifted up the 
wheel with his trunk and held it until the 
carriage had passed entirely clear of the 
man." 

" I hope he had ever so much sweet- 
meats," cried Edith. " Don't you think he 
deserved it, Miss Harson ?" 

" He did indeed, and so did the nabob's 
elephant that carried his master, attended 
by numerous slaves, along the road from 
the palace, where many poor natives lay 
sick or dying of an epidemic disease. The 
slaves did not seem to care for their suffer- 
ing fellow-creatures and would have gone 
right over them, but the more tender- 
hearted animal took the trouble to lift a 
number of them out of the way with his 
trunk, and stepped so carefully over the 
others that none were hurt at all." 

" I just hope that old nabob caught the 
epidemic and died," exclaimed Malcolm, 
savagely. u He ought to." 

" The story does not say that he did," 
was the quiet reply. " Besides, Malcolm, 
God does not often punish in this way. 



336 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

His punishments, like his rewards, are gen- 
erally a long time in coming — that is, as we 
count time — and for this reason foolish peo- 
ple will think that they are not coming at 
all. I am quite sure that the wicked nabob 



ROYAL ELEPHANT WITH TRAPPINGS. 

was punished, but it is not necessary that 
we should know how or when. — In ancient 
times," continued the young lady, " the 
princes and rulers of India used to ride 
in great state, with their families, upon ele- 



HARD WORK. 337 

phants that fairly shone with jeweled trap- 
pings ; and one of these sovereigns rode on 
an elephant through the streets of his capi- 
tal, 'followed by twenty royal elephants for 
his own ascending, so rich that in precious 
stones and furniture they braved the sun/ 
But now ' the stately animal is generally used 
for the conveyance of the manifold servants 
that wait upon the rich in India, or he is 
laden with tents and tent-poles, or with wa- 
ter-bottles and pots and saucepans, and 
all other paraphernalia of the kitchen, 
slung about his body in all directions. His 
appearance then is somewhat more ludi- 
crous than dignified/ " 

" Miss Harson," said Clara, suddenly, 
"here is a very strange picture of a queer- 
looking animal climbing upon an elephant 
who has his trunk 'way up above his head, 
and there are men on his back, and one 
of them is poking something at the animal. 
There is another elephant near by, and the 
man on that one looks awfully frightened/' 

" Well he may," was the reply, " for the 
1 queer-looking animal ' is that most fero- 
cious of beasts a full-grown tiger, and he 
22 



338 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

has just sprung on the elephant in front. 
The picture is a rough woodcut that makes 
the tiger very queer-looking indeed." 

" Do tigers ride on elephants too?" 
asked Edith, with such a surprised face 
that no one could help laughing. 

" No, dear," said Miss Harson ; " they 
only spring on them as this one has done, 
and try to tear them to pieces with their 
terrible teeth and claws. But the elephant 
is a match even for the tiger, and for that 
reason he is used in India to hunt the 
savage beast. You see how tall and thick 
the great reeds are in the jungle where 
the tiger makes his lair, and it requires the 
elephant's strength to get through it, while 
his keen scent discovers the prey before 
any one has seen it, and his sagacity and 
great height keep the hunter out of danger. 
If the elephant were of no other use, he 
would be invaluable as a means of ridding 
the country of those fearful pests, which 
make a point of devouring the inhabitants 
whenever they can get at them. Not all 
elephants are very courageous with tigers, 
and a panic sometimes occurs as soon as 






HARD WORK. 339 

the detested animal appears. ' Occasionally 
the hunter, with his rifle, is mounted upon 
an elephant's back. The presence of the 
tiger is generally made known by the ele- 
phants, which, scenting their enemy, be- 
come agitated and make that peculiar 
trumpeting which indicates their alarm. 
If the tiger moves, many of the elephants 
become ungovernable; their trunks are 
thrown up into the air; if they consent 
to go forward, their cautious steps evince 
their apprehensions. Those that remain 
steady in such circumstances are considered 
particularly valuable. If the motion of an 
animal through the jungle is perceived, the 
nearest elephant is halted, and the rider 
fires in the direction of the waving rushes. 
The tiger is sometimes wounded by these 
random shots, and he then generally bounds 
through the cover to the nearest elephant. 
Very few elephants can then resist the 
impulse of their fears. If the trunk — 
which the animal invariably throws up as 
far as possible out of reach — should be 
scratched by the tiger, all command is lost/ 
An elephant has sometimes been known to 



340 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

catch a tiger on his tusks just as the animal 
had made a spring, but this is not common. 
If the tiger happens to fall, its ponderous 
antagonist will instantly kneel upon its 
body and fasten it to the ground with his 
tusks. Elephants are trained to do this 
with stuffed tigers, on which they are taught 
to trample, and they never seem to forget 
anything that they have once learned. ,, 

"Well," said Malcolm, "I do think that 
elephants are the most wonderful animals 
that ever lived, and I wish I owned one." 

" You would have a white one, of course, 
like the king of Siam ?" said his governess, 
laughing. 

"Oh, Miss Harson," exclaimed Clara, 
"will you not tell us something about white 
elephants ?" 

"There is not much to tell, dear," was 
the reply, " as there is no such thing, as I 
have told you, as a really white elephant. 
Those that are so called have a pinkish 
tinge which is produced by disease, although 
it is declared by an old writer that * when 
the king goes to court he has a train of 
two hundred elephants, among which one is 



HARD WORK. 34 1 

white/ To this monarch's title — ' king of 
the white elephant'' — was added, 'Which 
elephant is the king of elephants, before 
whom many thousands of other elephants 
must bow and fall upon their knees/ ' 

" Did they do it?" asked Malcolm. 

"If they did," replied his governess, "it 
was in the same way that the elephants 
belonging- to another Eastern king made 
their obeisance. These animals were daily 
paraded in twelve companies splendidly 
adorned, ' the first elephant having all the 
plates on his head and breast set with 
rubies and emeralds, being a beast of 
wonderful stature and beauty. They all 
bowed down before the king/ This is ex- 
plained by saying that on approaching the 
throne each driver pricked his elephant 
with a sharp instrument, and spoke to him 
at the same time, until he bent on one 
knee." 

"Pooh!" said Edith; "that wasn't very 
smart, then, for an elephant. But it must 
have been nice," she added, " to see that 
great procession." 

" It was certainly a brilliant sight," con- 



342 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

tinued Miss Harson, " and elephants are 
said to enjoy these parades, and to step in 
a more stately manner when they are richly 
adorned. An English traveler who saw 
the king of Siam's elephants mentions 
four white ones and gives the following 
account of them: 'Within the first gate of 
the palace is a very large court, on both 
sides of which are the houses for the king's 
elephants, which are wonderfully large and 
handsome, and are trained for war and for 
the king's service. Among the rest, he 
has four white elephants, which are so 
great a rarity, no other king having any 
but he ; and were any other king to have 
one, he would send for it, and if refused 
would go to war for it, and would rather 
lose a great part of his kingdom than not 
have the elephant. When any white ele- 
phant is brought to the king, all the mer- 
chants in the city are commanded to go 
and visit him, on which occasion each in- 
dividual makes a present of half a ducat — 
which amounts to a good round sum, as 
there are a great many merchants — after 
w r hich present you may go and see them at 



HARD WORK. 343 

your pleasure, although they stand in the 
king's house. Great honor and service are 
done to those white elephants, every one 
of them having a house with gold, and 
getting their food in vessels of gilt silver. 
Every day, when they go to the river to 
wash, each one goes under a canopy of cloth 
of gold or silk carried by six or eight men, 
and eight or ten men go before each, play- 
ing on drums, shawms and other instru- 
ments. When each has washed and is 
come out of the river, he has a gentleman 
to wash his feet in a silver basin ; which 
office is appointed by the king. There is 
no such account of the black elephants, be 
they never so great, and some of them are 
wonderfully large and handsome/ It seems 
that the sovereign of Birmah had a white 
elephant too, but this one was said to be 
cream-colored. An unusual grunt from this 
important animal would take off the atten- 
tion of the government from the most press- 
ing affairs; for who could tell what might 
be working in the white elephant's mind 
and how far he might be able to see into 
the future ? So these superstitious people 



344 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

spent their time in trying to explain what 
did not need any explanation, and left their 
business to take care of itself." 

Then Miss Harson read to the children 
from a book about Siam* which she had 
been holding in her hand a description of 
a reception of a white elephant at the court 
of Siam : 

" 'A few years ago two Siamese peasants 
of the up-country, far to the north, were 
ordered by the governor of the province 
to go out into the jungle and hunt for a 
white elephant. The astrologers having 
prophesied that the present reign would be 
especially lucky, and that several of these 
spotted elephants would be caught, constant 
vigilance had been enjoined on all the pro- 
vincial officials of these regions, and a large 
bounty was promised to the finders of such 
a prize. 

" 'Accordingly, leaving their homes and 
families, these poor men went out to live 
in the malarious jungle, wandering hither 
and thither for many weary weeks in vain, by 
day forcing their way through the rank un- 

* Siam and Laos. 



HARD WORK. 345 

dergrowth, anxiously following the tracks of 
the wild elephants up and down the streams, 
living on the fruits of the trees and the fish 
in the mountain-lakes, at night bivouack- 
ing under the stars, each in turn watching, 
while the other slept, to keep up the great 
fire built to protect their resting-spot from 
the fierce animals prowling about under 
cover of the darkness. Thus day after day 
and week after week they sought for the 
coveted white elephant which should en- 
sure to those who found him the richest 
reward. At length, on the very point of 
giving up in despair, they had turned their 
faces homeward, when, all of a sudden, a 
small beautifully-formed elephant was seen 
at a distance, drinking. He was all muddy 
and dirty, and at first sight appeared darker 
than the ordinary color of this animal. But 
some peculiarity in the skin aroused hope. 
One of them said, " We will take him home 
and give him a wash." This was done, and 
to their great joy the whole body proved to 
be of a pale Bath-brick color, with a few 
real white hairs on the back. Indeed, com- 
petent experts pronounced it to be the 



346 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

" fairest " ever caught within living mem- 
ory. 

" i The whole kingdom was thrown into a 
state of the wildest excitement as the news 
spread. A fleet messenger bore the official 
document with the formal announcement 
down the river to Bangkok. The king 
loaded his ears with gold. Each person in 
any way connected with this great capture 
received some token of royal favor. The 
poor finders were loaded with honors and 
emoluments, at one step taking their places 
among the nobles of the kingdom and re- 
ceiving royal gifts and grants of land. 

" 'A day was fixed for the reception of 
the royal stranger at the capital, and His 
Majesty with his entire royal retinue went 
up the river sixty miles, some days in ad- 
vance, to meet the illustrious captive. 

" ' Very early in the day the whole city 
was astir. The most intense excitement 
prevailed. It was a great fete occasion. 
Old and young thronged the verandas of 
the houses. Crowds of country-folks from 
miles around flocked to the river. Near the 
palace-grounds, as the time drew near for 



348 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



the procession to approach, there was much 
running to and fro, officials on horseback 
galloping about, soldiers and marines in 
uniform. The national air, played by a 
brass band, heralded the approach of " the 
conquering hero." A temporary stable had 
been erected for this illustrious captive just 
outside the palace-grounds. He was mount- 
ed on a platform, and his hind leg was at- 
tached by a rope to a white post. Here, 
after numerous washings by pouring over 
him tamarind- water to cleanse away all pos- 
sible impurities, the new elephant was pub- 
licly baptized and received official title as a 
grandee of Siam. He was then brought into 
the palace-precincts and assigned a royal 
stable and numerous attendants, who serve 
him with the respect shown to royalty itself, 
and who generally approach on their hands 
and knees to feed and groom him. This 
elephant, however, is young, lively and good- 
natured, and makes salams by raising his 
trunk straight and high above his head to 
all well-dressed visitors in a way which 
quite scandalizes his keepers, who have 
taught all the other royal elephants to re- 



HARD WORK. 349 

serve that salute solely for the king. Were 
he not too royal to be whipped, this merry 
grandee might soon be taught to recognize 
the honor due to royalists. 

" ' In time past these beasts were wor- 
shiped by king and people ; their stables 
were palaces ; they were fed from golden 
dishes and wore heavy gold rings upon 
their tusks, and were fettered with golden 
chains. Yet even now the populace fall 
with their heads to the ground as these 
white elephants are led out richly capar- 
isoned on state occasions, while the royal 
officers, and even the king himself, always 
make them obeisance in passing.' " 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 

I SUPPOSE," said Clara, when the chil- 
dren were gathered again in their 
favorite place conveniently near Miss Har- 
son, "that there isn't any more about ele- 
phants except what you were going to tell 
us about some menagerie elephants ?" 

"I think,'' replied her governess, with a 
smile, " that we are almost as well acquaint- 
ed with these large and useful animals as 
we can hope to be — with the exception, 
perhaps, of some few particular ones that 
have been on exhibition. It is wonderful 
to think of their being carried around the 
country in cars like human beings and 
made to do a variety of things that are 
quite foreign to their usual habits." 

" Do they take elephants on cars, Miss 
Harson ?" asked Edith, as though she ex- 

350 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 35 I 

pected to see two or three of them seated 
in the next train she entered. 

"Yes, Edie, but not as they take us. 
The poor creatures are very much cramped 
in what is called an ' elephant-car/ five of 
them being stowed in at once ; and they 
usually travel at night, so that no part of 
the day may be wasted. All this must 
seem very strange and alarming to the 
unwieldy animals, and with their great 
caution and unwillingness to try anything 
new it is a wonder that they can be taken 
about from one place to another with so 
few mishaps. " 

" The people who own the elephants and 
things," said Malcolm, "must make lots of 
money, because every one pays to go and 
look at 'em." 

"They take in a great deal of money," 
replied Miss Harson, " but it is not all gain. 
It costs a great deal to feed large animals 
and to take proper care of them. Men 
have to be hired at very high wages as 
keepers or attendants, for there are very 
few who understand this business and can 
get control over the animals. I suppose 



352 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

you have not happened to think of the 
labor of washing and dressing them?" 

Malcolm could not say that he had, 
and his sisters were very much surprised 
to hear that animals were washed and 
dressed. 

"I do not mean," continued the young- 
lady, " that they are washed and dressed as 
we are, but many of them, like elephants, 
camels and giraffes, have showy trappings 
put on them, and, although there are no 
bath-tubs for their special use, they are 
regularly scrubbed off. I remember see- 
ing a picture some time ago in which a 
large elephant was having- a bath. He 
looked perfectly contented as he squatted 
on the ground close by a hydrant while 
one man played the hose over him and 
another, kneeling on his back, washed 
him off with a loner broom. The enormous 
animal seemed pleased with these atten- 
tions, and the men saved him the trouble 
of squirting himself over with water from his 
trunk. Then, too, the cutting of his nails 
is quite an undertaking." 

" Oh, Miss Harson !" said Clara, who 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 353 

thought her governess must mean this for 
a joke ; " do elephants really have their 
nails cut?" 

" I will read you what I found about it in 
a book," was the reply ; " and I do not 
wonder at your surprise, for I was very 
much surprised myself. It seems that 
' three times a year, at least, each one of 
these monsters must have his hoofs cut and 
trimmed into good shape — once in the 
spring, once when traveling with the circus 
in summer, and once more after the huge 
beast has returned to winter quarters. 
The sole of the elephant's foot becomes 
gradually covered during the year with a 
thick substance resembling horn, much like 
the three great toe-nails. This, if allowed 
to grow too dense, is apt to crack and 
make the beast lame. Accordingly, one 
of the keepers stations the elephant in the 
ring- and bids him balance himself on three 
legs, while he stretches out the other be- 
hind him, resting it on a tub or a box. 
With a carpenter s large drawing-knife the 
hoof is then attacked and quickly shaved 
down. Sometimes pieces of the bony 

23 



354 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

substance five or six inches long and nearly 
as thick are cut off without the elephant's 
feeling any pain whatever or the knife 
taking too much from the sole. Frequent- 
ly pieces of glass, nails, splinters, and the 
like, are found imbedded in the growth, 
and these it is very important to have ex- 
tracted, lest they should work their way 
upward and fester in the foot. Recently a 
nail was discovered and pulled out from 
the foot of the elephant Pallas that only 
came to light after three inches of the 
hoof had been cut off. When the first 
rough going over is completed, the keeper, 
with a smaller knife, trims each nail into 
handsome shape — its cleanness and new 
color quite improving the animal's appear- 
ance — covers any small wounds with tar 
and dismisses the patient. It takes six 
hours to do this curious job in a proper 
manner, and the keeper is quite tired out 
when two beasts have received his atten- 
tions. 

" Here is a pleasant story," continued 
Miss Harson, " about an elephant belong- 
ing to a menagerie which outwitted the 






PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 355 

people of the village. The story is called 
4 Regulating the Elephant:' 

" ' Everybody had heard that the great 
elephant was loose, and several families 
whose gardens he had torn up and whose 
boys he had trampled upon were certain of 
it. There was a great excitement, and the 
town held a meeting to decide what should 
be done. They did not want to extermi- 
nate him : in fact, many of them did not 
believe they could exterminate him, for he 
was a pretty big elephant. Besides, he was 
useful in his proper place — in shows, in In- 
dia and in story-books. 

" ' " Our best plan is to try and regulate 
him," said an enthusiastic speaker. " Let us 
build toll-gates all along the route we find 
he is going to take, and make him pay — " 

"'"Yes, but that leaves him roaming 
around, ,, said an old woman, "and I don't 
want my boy killed." 

" ' " Keep your boy away from him ; that's 
your business. Why, madam, don't you 
know that an elephant's hide and tusks are 
valuable for mechanical purposes, and that 
he is useful in India ? Besides, there's the 



356 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



toll he will pay. We shall by this means 
get money into the public treasury to build 




REGULATING THE ELEPHANT. 






schools for a good many boys who are not 
trampled to death/' 

" ■ u That's the plan ! Regulate him ! reg- 
ulate him !" shouted the crowd. 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 357 

11 ' So they appointed a great many com- 
mittees, and drafted constitutions and by- 
laws, and circulated petitions, and by the 
time the elephant killed several more boys 
and trampled down a quantity of gardens 
they had erected very comfortable toll- 
houses for the gatekeepers and gates for 
the elephant ; and they waited in great sat- 
isfaction to see the animal regulated. 

" ' Slowly the great feet tramped on- 
ward ; slowly the great proboscis appeared 
in view ; and, with a sniff of contempt, the 
elephant lifted the gate from its hinges 
and walked off with it, while the crowd 
stared after him in dismay. 

"'"Well!" exclaimed the keeper, catch- 
ing his breath ; " we haven't made much 
money so far, but the regulating plan would 
have been first rate if the elephant had not 
been a little stronger than the obstruc- 
tion/' ' " 

This was certainly something new about 
elephants, and the little audience had heard 
so many marvelous things that they would 
scarcely have been surprised at anything 
now. 



358 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

"Then, you know," said Miss Harson, 
"they must have their lessons." 

" Out of a book ?" asked Edith, in a state 
of great bewilderment. 

"They have not got quite so far as that 
yet," was the laughing reply, " but they are 
taught to stand on their heads and to turn 
somersaults, ring a bell with their trunks, 
play at see-saw, and do a variety of other 
things. The funniest part of it is that they 
have been seen practicing these antics by 
themselves when they supposed that no 
one was looking at them. It is astonishing 
how much an elephant can be taught to do 
and how well he remembers what he is 
taught. These performing elephants, as 
they are called, always draw large crowds 
of people to see them, and they are very 
valuable to their owners. Several years 
ago there was in this country a large per- 
forming elephant named ' Queen' who was 
not always very good-tempered, and in a 
sulky fit she would refuse to play at all. 
But two of the circus-people owned a dear 
little baby-boy, who was taken one day to 
see the big elephant that was not very 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 359 

pleasant, and he immediately put out his 
little arms and cooed at it. Queen was 
surprised for a moment, but presently there 
was a strange rumbling sound that meant 
pleasure, and the big elephant followed the 
boy with her eyes as he was carried away. 
Before long Baby had his chubby arms 
around Oueen's trunk, and this delighted 
her very much. He would stick his finger 
in her eyes and take all sorts of liberties 
with the great creature, but she never re- 
sented it, and seemed perfectly happy when 
the little fellow was with her. When he 
got old enough to toddle about, Donald 
would make the big elephant lie down by 
pushing at her, when she would tumble on 
one side to please him. Then he climbed up 
on her head in hi^h o-lee, letting his little 
fat legs hang down in his heavy friend's 
mouth. By and by they got to playing- 
blocks, and Queen would take up one in 
her trunk and lay it on the others, and then 
wait for Donald to lay his. When the pile 
was finished — perhaps a castle and a fence 
— the little boy would laugh mischievous- 
ly and knock it down. Then Queen rum- 



360 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

bled with delight, and this seemed to be 
the best part of the play. It was a con- 
stant enjoyment to the circus-people of all 
kinds to watch these strange playmates, 
neither of whom seemed to notice any 
one that was looking on. 

" You were surprised/' continued the 
young lady, " when I told you of the ele- 
phant that took care of the baby in India, 
but no wee boy ever had a more devoted 
attendant than this great, lumbering, affec- 
tionate Queen. The two would lie down 
together and go to sleep in the most per- 
fect security, and it was a very common 
thing to see the elephant standing with the 
mite of a child curled up in her trunk, on 
which he had climbed. Both seemed to 
have the happiest possible times, and little 
Donald's laugh always appeared to delight 
his huge friend. But after a few days' ill- 
ness the little boy died, and, from being 
uneasy at first on missing him as day after 
day passed without his appearing, the great 
animal became frantic with grief. She 
treated her keeper, to whom she had been 
attached, as though she suspected him of 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 36 1 

having made way with her pet, and she re- 
fused for some time to take her part in the 
performances. She gave a great deal of 
trouble to her keeper and owners, because 
the other performing elephants, who ac- 
knowledged her as their sovereign, were 
disposed to avenge her fancied wrongs, 
and even after she was prevailed upon to 
take up her duties again she was a sulky, 
disagreeable animal." 

" But wasn't it nice of her," said Edith, 
who was almost crying about Donald, " to 
be sorry for the dear boy?" 

" Yes, dear, it showed a very affectionate 
nature and a strong memory, neither of 
which we seem to expect in an elephant. 
But I think we generally expect too little 
from animals. — As to Queen, after a while 
there came to the menagerie another baby, 
which stood on four legs and had a funny 
little trunk and did not seem to know what 
to do with itself. It was 'Queen's own 
baby, but she did not appear to notice it 
until the other elephants went frantic with 
delight, and stood on their heads, and per- 
formed all the queer capers they had been 



362 



SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 



taught. The bewildered baby stood per- 
fectly still during this strange welcome, 
when suddenly its mother caught sight 
of it, and with a shrill yell of delight, she 
snatched it up in her trunk and flung it 
as far as she could. ,, 

" How horrid !" exclaimed Clara. "Did 
she kill the poor little thing ?" 

" No ; ' the poor little thing ' — who was 
not much less than three feet high — prob- 
ably thought it had got into a queer sort 
of world, but it made no remarks and just 
stayed where its mother had thrown it. 
Queen was a changed elephant after that ; 
she took the greatest possible comfort in 
her baby and became mild and obedient. 
The other elephants seemed to form them- 
selves into a band of nurses, and it was 
very amusing to see the care they took of 
that precious baby. They would not allow 
it to cross a bridge until they had tried it to 
see if it was quite safe, and then they 
would caress it with their trunks to en- 
courage it. If ever there was a spoiled 
elephant-child, that was certainly one ; 
and besides the adulation it received in the 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 363 

family circle, it had hundreds of visitors 
every day, and was stuffed with cake and 
candy and fruit and peanuts, until the 
wonder was that it managed to live. It 
was the first elephant born in captivity — 
the only baby-elephant ever seen in this 
country — and people could not make 
enough of it." 

" Couldn't we see it, Miss Harson ?" 
asked the children, excitedly. 

" Not that baby-elephant, because it is 
quite grown up now; but if there is 
another one, I shall hope to take you. — 
Another wonderful menagerie elephant 
was the huge African Jumbo, who after 
spending about three years in this country 
was killed by a railroad-train some time 
ago. He was the largest elephant ever 
brought here, and it was a very hard and 
expensive piece of work to bring him — 
that is, to bring him from England ; for 
Jumbo was caught by some Arabs when he 
was a baby, and he had been at the Zoolog- 
ical Gardens in London for a great many 
years, so that he knew nothing at all of 
forest-life in Africa. Jumbo was very 



364 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS. 

gentle and a great favorite with the Eng- 
lish children, who loved to ride on his back 
and feed him with buns and candy and 
peanuts ; but after a while he had fits of 
anger, and was sold to Mr. Barnum for a 
large sum of money. It was thought that 
he would do better under different treat- 
ment, and this proved to be the case, for in 
America he was always gentle and affec- 
tionate. The children went wild over him 
and delighted in riding on his back, while 
he and his keeper were devoted friends. 
They had been together ever since Jumbo 
was three years old ; and when he died, he 
was about twenty-five. Such a valuable ele- 
phant had every possible care and wore rich 
and beautiful trappings, but he was not al- 
lowed to parade the streets like more com- 
mon animals. He had his own special car 
for traveling, and his daily rations were 
two hundred pounds of hay, two bushels of 
oats, a barrel of potatoes, ten or fifteen 
laro-e loaves of bread and two or three 
quarts of onions, besides the nuts and 
sweet things with which he was constantly 
stuffed by visitors. But he was always in 



PUBLIC CHARACTERS. 365 

perfect health, and seemed to be a happy 
and contented elephant/' 

"And was he killed, Miss Harson?" 
asked Edith, sorrowfully. 

" Yes, dear ; he was killed on a railroad- 
track, where he and a companion-elephant 
had unfortunately gone to walk just after 
delighting people with their amusing per- 
formances. Hearing a loud, strange noise, 
the people who were preparing to pack up 
the show rushed to the car-track near by, 
and there was Jumbo crushed and dying, 
another elephant with a broken leg, and 
part of a railroad-train thrown off the rails 
into a ditch. It was a terrible scene, and 
after that one wild cry Jumbo was perfectly 
quiet. His keeper wept on his dead body 
as if he had lost a human friend, and he 
declared that if Jumbo was only an ele- 
phant he was, as the saying is, every inch 
a king." 

There was some weeping done at the 
end of this story, and Miss Harson com- 
forted her little charges by telling them that 
Jumbo had been stuffed and could be seen 
in that way, and that on the first opportu- 






366 SOME USEFUL ANIMALS, 

nity they should have a sight of this world- 
renowned elephant. 

But the children were not at all sure that 
they would not feel worse — " because he 
was not alive, you know " — and the talk 
about elephants ended with their deeply 
considering the matter. 



THE END. 



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